QOTD: Musk Becomes A Trillionaire At Your Expense

 

"IF YOU’RE READING THIS, you might be about to help make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.

"If so, you’ll also be risking your retirement savings while simultaneously bailing out X and Cybertrucks.

"And to top it off: You have pretty much no say in the matter.

"That’s because Musk’s SpaceX is IPOing next week, and it’s getting special treatment that allows it to enter many of the major stock indices without meeting the usual requirements to do so. What that means is that if you hold an index fund—which you probably do, if you have a 401(k)—you may be forced to transfer some of your wealth to this money-losing rocket company and, by extension, its megalomaniacal CEO. And you won’t really be able to complain if he screws up...." -- Catherine Rampell, in "The Bulwark," starting off "Congrats. You’re About to Unwittingly Make Elon Musk a Trillionaire."  She concludes:

"So to recap: You and I are going to be forced to buy SpaceX at what appears to be an inflated price; we have no recourse if Musk fail-whales; and our federal overseers are asleep at the switch."

Everything in between is more than a little horrifying and disgusting, and well worth the read.

QOTD: Down On The Border

 

"Psst. Have you heard? Illegal border crossings are down. Way down.

"From the last four months of 2023 to the first four months of 2024, illegal crossings at the U.S. southwestern border fell a whopping 40 percent, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Such crossings usually rise in the early months of a calendar year, as the weather warms, so this number might even understate the turnaround.

"Two takeaways from this development: First, the standard GOP (and media) talking points about the 'border crisis' are woefully out of date. Second: Anyone who cares about border security should support a presidential candidate with (ahem) good diplomatic relationships..." -- Catherine Rampell, in the Washington Post, discussing the "border crisis" (that Republicans, at the Malignant Loser's behest, don't want to address so they can use it as an election issue).  The main point Rampell makes is that having a President who can engage in serious multilateral diplomatic relations has been a key to the turnaround. U.S. Mexico relations are, of course, key and have greatly improved under President Biden (not having a bomb-throwing racist buffoon as President helps).  But other countries in Latin America and around the world have helped with interdiction and shutting down smuggling networks.  Now, getting a Democratic House that will pass an effective, humane border security bill is the next step.

QOTD -- No Immigration? No Retirement For Grandma!

 

"Don’t want more immigrants in this country? Then tell grandma she can never retire.

"As I’ve noted before, immigrants are driving the U.S. economic boom. That is: The United States has escaped recession, hiring growth has exceeded expectation, and inflation has cooled faster than predicted — all largely because immigration has boosted the size of the U.S. labor force. Don’t just take my word for it; ask the Federal Reserve chair or Wall Street economists.  [snip]

"Yet, somehow, the Trumpy right argues that greedy, freeloading immigrants are simultaneously stealing both our jobs and our precious tax dollars. In reality, they’re beefing up both." -- WaPo's Catherine Rampell's opening and closing words on what immigration means to our booming economy (thanks, Biden!).  Sadly, too many Americans respond to Christofascist/ White Nationalist fear mongering, led by the Malignant Loser, and abetted by a "mainstream media" more concerned with shallow, short attention span sensationalism than drilling facts about immigration into the heads of the American public. The op/ ed contains a lot of those facts about immigration and the workforce that rarely seem to find a place in the discussion.  Good read, and information to pass along.

QOTD -- Economically Destructive Donny

 

Catherine Rampell, Washington Post, leads off an op/ ed by observing the phenomenon of dumbass Don Snoreleone's destructive economic policies being seen by a large (albeit equally dumbass) segment of the population as being good for the economy:  

"Remind me again why Americans think Donald Trump would be so much better on inflation and the economy?

"Trump’s policy team is reportedly scheming to devalue the U.S. dollar. This might well be Trump’s most inflationary and economically destructive idea yet. That’s quite an achievement, considering everything else he and his advisers have cooked up (universal tariff hikes, deficit-financed tax cuts, huge reductions in the labor force, etc.)..."

She later concludes with a reasonable explanation for Donny Nappleseed's destructive plans:

"We might also weaken our ability to impose sanctions upon countries, businesses or individuals whose actions we disapprove of, since dollars are used so often in international transactions and we have some ability to restrict those transactions.

"Then again, maybe we should give Trump some credit. Reducing our global influence, and specifically our ability to punish certain global villains, might be exactly what we he wants."

Sounds about right.

QOTD -- Bad Risk

 

Catherine Rampell at the Washington Post asks if you had the ability to lend the Malignant Loser all or part of the $464 million bond he owes, why would you??  An extended excerpt:

Of course no one will lend Donald Trump the half-billion dollars he needs to put up while appealing his fraud case. Would you?  [snip]

Even if there were no problem whatsoever with Trump’s collateral, skittishness about lending to Trump is more than reasonable. Trump has an extensive history of not paying his bills, whether to cabinet-builders hired by his casinos or big banks financing his skyscrapers. In fact, he often brags about not paying his bills.

Again: He treats every bill, every signed contract, as merely an opening offer.

Additionally, imagine you loan Trump a few million dollars, and then he gets elected president again. It would become virtually impossible to collect. If you did try to collect, Trump would likely have few qualms about siccing the Justice or Treasury departments on you.

How do we know? Because he did exactly this the last time he was president. He weaponized the powers of state for much smaller infractions. For example, his administration opened a bogus antitrust investigation into auto companies that didn’t support his fuel-efficiency standards. His former chief of staff, John Kelly, also said in a sworn statement that Trump tried to order the Internal Revenue Service to investigate his perceived enemies. More recently, Trump himself stated (on TV!) his intentions to deploy law enforcement against his opponents if granted another term.

That’s the funny thing about rule of law: When you make clear you won’t uphold it, those who might need its protection are a little less willing to do business with you.

If the $464 million bond isn't posted by Monday (barring a stay), New York Attorney General Letitia James can start enforcing the fraud judgement by seizing the Malignant Loser's assets.  Be sure to have plenty of popcorn on hand.

QOTD -- The Party Of Third-World Instability

 

"... GOP lawmakers scaremonger about the foreign-born, characterizing immigration as an invasion. As Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) dog-whistled last week, 'Import the 3rd world. Become the 3rd world.'

"Alas, the faction working to turn the United States into a developing country is not immigrants but Collins’s own party. It’s Republicans, after all, who have supported the degradation of the rule of law; the return of a would-be dictator; the gutting of public education and health-care systems; the rollback of clean-water standards and other environmental rules; and the relaxation of child labor laws (in lieu of letting immigrants fill open jobs, of course).

"America has historically drawn hard-working immigrants from around the world precisely because its people and economy have more often been shielded from such 'Third World'-like instability, which Republican politicians now invite in..." -- Catherine Rampell, Washington Post, on "The Surge in Immigration Is A $7 Trillion Gift To The Economy."  But, of course, "the border crisis" is something MAGAt Republicans want to run on this November. Good luck with that, given their cult / party's kowtowing to their cult leader in tanking the best chance for a border security bill in decades.  People are already noticing and voting accordingly.

QOTD -- The Tax Cheat Party

 

"Once upon a time, Republicans portrayed themselves as the party of small government and family values. Recently, though, GOP leaders have been cobbling together a new coalition, welcoming insurrectionists, white-nationalist tiki-torchers and people who think Bill Gates is trying to microchip them.

"The latest recruit to the Big Tent? Tax cheats." -- Catherine Rampell, in the Washington Post.  Well, it's no surprise because the GQP has "cheat" in its DNA -- from rigging elections to grifting its mouth- breathing base.  Rampell's piece is another study in Republican bad faith and is worth a read.

 

Corporations, Speech, And "Consequences Culture"

From this morning's Washington Post op-ed piece by Catherine Rampell:

"For a long time, the Republican Party had what it believed was a tacit deal with corporate America. Companies donated enormous sums to GOP campaigns and aligned groups, and in exchange, Republicans delivered tax cuts: on corporate profits, capital gains, estates. Whatever other agenda items Republicans pursued — on immigration, civil rights or anything else — corporate America would generally keep its mouth shut. So long as the tax cuts kept flowing, the only “speech” that corporations engaged in came from their wallets, which in turn were fattened by those tax cuts.

An un-virtuous cycle, if you will.

But recently, something funny happened. Democrats, having achieved unified control of government, are threatening to reverse the major corporate tax cut Republicans passed in 2017. Yet corporate America is criticizing Republicans, and for something unrelated: legislation in Georgia, Texas and other states that threatens to strip Americans of their voting rights.

Republicans are furious that corporations appear so ungrateful." (our emphasis)

Read her whole column, which goes on to explain the shift in corporate behavior that's so upsetting to Republicans, as they go about trying to deny voting rights to corporations' employees of color nation wide.

Republican pols are employing various trigger words in their politics of resentment, "cancel culture" being the most prolific. For us, Rampell's column helped to illuminate why it's not "cancel culture," but rather "consequences culture" in which people (and remember, "corporations are people") vote with their feet away from products, politics, etc. that don't reflect their values. If Republican pols expect the old paradigm of tax and regulatory cuts in exchange for their contributions and silence to continue, they'd be well to heed Rampell's headline: "there's more to capitalism than tax cuts."

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Catherine Rampell has the legacy of Donald "Mango Mussolini" Trump by the numbers:

261,000 (and growing): If anything is “sacred,” it is human life. This number is the minimum tally of U.S. lives lost to the novel coronavirus as of Wednesday night. By the time Trump leaves office it will be higher. Even by Thanksgiving morning, it will be higher.

$750: The amount Trump reportedly paid in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency. He paid the same amount his first year in the White House, too.

14.7 percent: The unemployment rate in April 2020. Also the highest unemployment rate on record since modern statistics on joblessness began in 1948 and likely the highest rate since the Great Depression.

$421 million: The amount of loans and other debts for which Trump is personally responsible, with most of it reportedly coming due within four years — that is, a period when Trump had hoped to serve his second presidential term. [snip]

$130,000: The amount Trump paid an adult-film actress with whom he had an affair; this bought her silence ahead of the 2016 election.

26: The number of women who have publicly accused Trump of sexual misconduct.

26 million: The number of American adults who reported that their household didn’t have enough to eat just ahead of Election Day.

Those numbers belong in the Trump Presidential Library.

Leonard Pitts, Jr., writes about the craven Republicans unwilling to defend democracy:

Almost three weeks later. Trump retreats ever deeper into his delusions about election fraud — the resemblance to Hitler in his bunker, ordering non-existent armies into action, cannot be denied — yet it is still news whenever some lonely Republican musters the guts to refer to the president-elect as the president-elect. Even more so when some still-serving party member rebukes Trump.

New York Rep. Peter King said it was inexcusable, in the summer of 2014, for President Obama to wear a tan suit. Yet about Trump’s subversion of democracy, he has said nothing. Monday, on Twitter and CNN, respected reporter Carl Bernstein named 21 GOP senators — including McSally, Grassley, Cornyn, Collins, Rubio and Rick Scott — who in private, he says, “have repeatedly expressed extreme contempt for Trump and his fitness to be POTUS.”

Yet almost none has been willing to say so publicly. Why? Well, they’re scared Trump might tweet at them. That could even cost them an election. But if fear of losing your job keeps you from defending your country, you don’t deserve the job. Frankly, you don’t even deserve the country.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article247403315.html#storylink=cpy

Here's the insanity they're complicit in.  "20 Days of Fantasy and Failure: Inside Trump's Quest to Overturn the Election" is, as they say, the first draft of the history of this inflection point:

The facts were indisputable: President Trump had lost.

But Trump refused to see it that way. Sequestered in the White House and brooding out of public view after his election defeat, rageful and at times delirious in a torrent of private conversations, Trump was, in the telling of one close adviser, like “Mad King George, muttering, ‘I won. I won. I won.’ ”

However cleareyed Trump’s aides may have been about his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, many of them nonetheless indulged their boss and encouraged him to keep fighting with legal appeals. They were “happy to scratch his itch,” this adviser said. “If he thinks he won, it’s like, ‘Shh . . . we won’t tell him.’ ”

ICYMI, here's a small part of the "60 Minutes" interview last night with lifelong Republican Chris Krebs, former head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the DHS (you can view the full interview here):

“We can go on and on with all the farcical claims alleging interference in the 2020 election, but the proof is in the ballots. The recounts are consistent with the initial count,” says Krebs. “The American people should have 100% confidence in their vote.” https://t.co/SBqu3FlK6S pic.twitter.com/5ZMHcnLGYa

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) November 30, 2020

 

Infidel 753 has an interesting, and hopeful, essay about deprogramming the Red Hat Cult, and the significant role that mass pop culture, among other forces, could play.  Here's a brief excerpt:

It's a slow process.  It has to be subtle, because people react to being preached at by putting their guard up.  Any hint of explicit politics or argumentation would kill the effect.  It works because pop culture is light, fun, colorful, entertaining, and non-political.  And its reach is nearly universal.  Fundies and Trumpanzees actively avoid MSNBC, CNN, liberal blogs, or anything else that explicitly reminds them of the reality outside the bubble -- but except for those few who are in literal cults, nearly everyone consumes some kind of pop culture.  The global reach and popularity of American (and Japanese) mass culture has even helped foment such changes in attitudes in regions like the Middle East, Latin America, and parts of East Asia.  [snip]

I believe the people who create and shape mass culture know exactly what they're doing and have a fairly consistent agenda, even if there is no overall leadership or coordination.  It's not a conspiracy; shared values and aesthetics make a conspiracy unnecessary.  Dismantling the wingnut alternate-reality bubble hasn't been a priority, but now that the Trump episode has made clear the magnitude of the danger lurking in the hinterlands, I expect that we'll start to see the same kinds of influences and imagery that have been eroding homophobia and fundamentalism brought to bear against the various delusions and attitudes which comprise that threat.  It won't be fast.  It won't be obvious.  It will hardly be noticeable.  But over time -- not with all of them, but with many -- it will work.

While you're there, check out his link round-up for great leads to interesting posts from around the Internet.

QOTD -- Republican Court Packers

"Was it worth it?

Republican lawmakers must ask themselves this question at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, whenever that is. Perhaps then they will finally inventory every misdeed they ignored or encouraged, every scar they seared into our republic and its institutions, in pursuit of their holy grail: another Supreme Court seat. [snip]

"The lure of packing the bench with conservative justices is presumably why Republican officials abandoned their putative commitments to limited government and free markets. It’s why they tossed aside free trade, fiscal responsibility; and their support for not “picking winners and losers,” not weaponizing government might to reward friends and punish perceived enemies.

"It’s how the “party of family values” justified electing its thrice-married leader, who has been publicly accused of sexual assault by more than two dozen women. A man who boasted of grabbing women by their genitals, who allegedly slept with a porn star shortly after his wife had their child.

"It’s how the “Party of Lincoln” excused overt bigotry against Muslims; against U.S.- born congresswomen of color who should “go back to” where they came from; against immigrants from “sh--hole countries”; against ethnic minorities who don’t share Trump supporters’ “good genes.” It’s how they brushed off his birtherism, his embrace of neo-Nazis at Charlottesville, his retweets of white supremacists, and the allegedly discriminatory housing policies that long predated Trump’s political career." -- Catherine Rampell writes about the trades rotted- out Republicans made in selling out democracy.  Please read the rest of her op/ed -- it's well- deserved takedown of this collection of spineless rats calling themselves a party.  In the final accounting, we have to make damn sure it wasn't worth it.

Trump: When In Trouble, Lie And Spin Conspiracies

Demagogue and racist Donald "Very Stable Genius" Trump fears a recession caused by his inept trade wars will deny him a second term. He fears it so deeply that he goes to his favorite ploys: lying and conspiracy jabber. The Washington Post's excellent Catherine Rampell looks at the situation:

"Trump, aided by his economic brain trust of cranks and sycophants, believes any indicator showing the U.S. economy could be in trouble must be fabricated. It’s all part of an anti-Trump conspiracy, he rants, according to reports in The Post, the Associated Press and the New York Times.

And move over, Illuminati, because this particular conspiracy is massive.

It’s led by the Federal Reserve, Democrats and the media, of course, or so say Trump and his Fox News minions. But it also includes the entire U.S. bond market, which flashed a warning sign last week when the Treasury yield curve inverted..." (our emphasis)

The conspiracy deepens:

"Also colluding are the many farmers, retailers, manufacturers and economists who have been warning for more than a year that the burden of Trump’s tariffs is mainly borne by Americans, not China or other trading partners, and also that uncertainty over trade tensions can paralyze hiring, investment and purchasing decisions, which we need to keep the economy expanding."  (our emphasis)

And on and on. You get the picture, and it's not a pretty one. Trump, instead of taking measures to avoid or mitigate a recession, is concocting conspiracies and seeking scapegoats for his folly. It fits a pattern of his (see post below).

BONUS:   "The fundamentals..."

Echoing the infamous and politically-deadly McCain quote from 2008 https://t.co/pGLUEDO8pO

— Sam Stein (@samstein) August 19, 2019

A phrase with a much longer history than 2008.

Herbert Hoover minimized an 11% market drop on Oct. 24, 1929: “The fundamental business of the country...is on a very sound and prosperous basis."

4 days later, on Black Monday, the stock market crash began the Great Depression. https://t.co/EzqlHpUQ5w

— You don't run for second place. (@GilmoreGlenda) August 20, 2019

Unfit Trump And His Unfit Party

We didn't have to stray from the op/ ed page of our hometown paper, the Washington Post, for reactions from left, right and middle to destructive moron Donald "Rump" Trump's attempt to put on his presidential pants (h/t Steven Colbert) following the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, the core appeal of the Republican Party that suits him so well, and how to effect real change.

Catherine Rampell writes about fear as the core appeal of Republicans:

Trump and allies urge us to cower in trepidation from helpless parents and children seeking asylum, a threat so grave they needed to be separated from one another and caged. We must also fear the supposed Muslim and Latino hordes, who threaten to wipe out Anglo-European culture and displace white babies with their own.

These are hardly the only foreigners who should inspire existential dread, according to right-wing fever dreams. Rogue nations should, too, thus justifying enormous increases in our defense budget. Of course, all the nukes and jets in the world won’t protect us from the assault our enemies abroad are currently waging against us, and that Republicans resist confronting: the one on our electoral system. [snip]

The best effort Republicans make to address American fears of gun massacres involves appeals to mental health improvements. Or, as Trump put it in his speech Monday morning: “Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun.”

But even this suggestion rings hollow, given that Republican officials across federal and state governments are actively working to reduce access to mental health care. A federal suit brought by 20 red states and supported by the Trump administration seeks to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act, which extended behavioral health coverage to millions through Medicaid and the essential health benefits required in individual market plans.

Republicans thrive on imagined menaces. Yet when a real-life menace demands action, they dismiss it. What, pray tell, is the party so afraid of?

(Spoiler alert:  losing power.]

 Former Dumbya speechwriter Michael Gerson on Trump's lack of moral standing:

Never in my political lifetime has an American president had less moral standing to address a national threat. Nearly every phrase of President Trump’s televised response to the El Paso and Dayton shootings could be matched with some discrediting contrast in his own voice.  [snip]

Throughout his career, Trump has given permission for prejudice and, in extreme political need, permission for hatred. Faced with electoral headwinds near the end of the 2018 midterms, Trump did not turn to economic populism, or even anti-elitism. He warned that a group of brown people was invading the country and entertained the prospect of shooting them at the border. This is what Trump views as his secret weapon, his political ace in the hole. “People hate the word ‘invasion,’ ” he once said, “but that’s what it is. It’s an invasion of drugs and criminals and people. . . . And in many cases, and in some cases, you have killers coming in and murderers coming in, and we’re not going to allow that to happen.”

Gerson also notes the complicity of evangelical "Christians" and the corporate world:

That is exactly what many in the corporate world, and many conservative Christian leaders, are doing in their devotion to Trump: honoring swagger, bluster and force, and excusing a leader who constructs his political success on the cultivation of contempt and slanders against the weak. By their nearly blind support, such leaders are complicit in Trump’s rule by resentment.

Paleo- conservative George Will says Trump doesn't just pollute the environment, he is the environment;  he also critiques the pharisees who support Trump:

It is one thing to have a president who, drawing upon his repertoire of playground insults, calls his alleged porn-star mistress “Horseface .” Polls indicate that approximately a third of Americans, disproportionately including religiously devout worriers about the coarsening of America’s culture, are more than merely content with this. It is quite another thing to have a president who does not merely pollute the social atmosphere with invectives directed at various disfavored minorities; he uses his inflated office not just to shape this atmosphere but to be this atmosphere.

When Gerald Ford became president after Richard M. Nixon’s resignation, he told the nation: “Our long national nightmare is over.” Today’s long — and perhaps occasionally lethal — national embarrassment will continue at least until Jan. 20, 2021. If it continues longer, this will be more than an embarrassment to the nation, this will be an indictment of it.

Karen Tumulty on why Trump could never pull the nation together:

Given what a narcissist our president is, you wouldn’t think he would find it so hard to look in a mirror.

It tells you how low our expectations have sunk for Donald Trump that when he addressed the nation Monday in the wake of the horrors that occurred over the weekend in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, it was considered commendable that he could bring himself to actually utter the words “white supremacy” and “domestic terrorism.”

But in calling upon “our nation” to condemn these poisonous forces “in one voice,” he only underscored how unwilling he has been to do that on his own.  [snip]

... Trump has brought racism into the mainstream. He has glorified intolerance, even made it sound like a form of patriotism.

Whether this kind of toxicity is what exists in the president’s heart, or is merely a cynical play to gin up his base, is irrelevant. What is important is that Trump has proved himself incapable of changing. He is not the person to pull a shattered, bewildered country together and unite it behind a renewed sense of purpose.

Eugene Robinson says Democrats need to retake the Senate and sweep the malignant obstruction of Moscow Mitch/ Massacre Mitch aside:

Even when Trump’s presidency is reduced to a nightmarish memory, nothing will change as long as McConnell and the Republicans control the Senate. Even as minority leader, McConnell would have considerable power — but much less than he has now. The Senate’s arcane rules would allow him to delay and obstruct. But the Republican senators who are crying crocodile tears over El Paso and Dayton could at least be forced to go on the record as opposing common-sense gun laws that the American people, including those senators’ constituents, overwhelmingly support.

Now for the hard part. It will not be easy for Democrats to win the Senate in 2020, given which seats are being contested. But for the party to have a fighting chance, it needs to run its very best Senate candidates — several of whom are instead running for president. They need to reconsider.

He names names;  the same names we'd name.

Dana Milbank runs through the "thoughts and prayers" mantra that cowardly Republicans offer after every mass murder, then concludes:

Trump, who previously said white nationalism is not a growing threat, announced that “our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy.”

Trump, who said nonwhite lawmakers should “go back” to other countries, asserted that “hatred warps the mind.”

Trump, who last week shared the sentiment that “DEMOCRATS ARE THE TRUE ENEMIES OF AMERICA,” said “now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside.”

Eventually, disgusted Americans will force Republicans to act. Until then, here’s a thought: We don’t have a prayer.

Correction:  "Eventually, disgusted Americans will force Republicans out of office..."  Fixed it.

It's Stupid's Economy

Now that we're within a month of entering the third year of the catastrophic Trump regime, the one area the public gives Individual 1 credit for is handling the economy. (How about the record 75 straight months of job growth under President Obama that was handed to Individual 1? Pfft!)  That's about to be tested, as the economy is showing serious signs of a slowdown.

With a competent president in the Oval Office, meeting the challenge of an economic slowdown would be difficult enough. With an ignorant, impulsive narcissist in the Oval Office, well, hold onto your hats.

Paul Waldman expects typical Individual 1 behavior in response to bad news, and just hopes he and his Republican enablers don't take us all down with them:

... [S]hould a recession come, he’ll act as though the entire thing was planned and executed by his enemies to prevent him from receiving the adulation that is his due. He will make it intensely personal, just as he does everything else. 

As for any policy changes he might make to address a recession, the best we can hope for is that Trump doesn’t make things worse. His Republican allies in Congress will say the only answer to our economic problems is another round of tax cuts, particularly for the wealthy, which will probably sound to him like a great idea. We know that because no matter what the problem is, that’s their solution. The bubonic plague could return, and Republicans would propose that we stop it with a cut to the capital gains tax.

Waldman's colleague Catherine Rampell looks at "the Keystone Cops" in charge of our economy, specifically the way Individual 1 and his foreclosure king Treasury Secretary handled the increase in the Federal Reserve's interest rate by Fed Chairman and Individual 1 appointee Jay Powell:

Over the decades, the Federal Reserve has cultivated a hard-won, well-deserved reputation for political independence — and with it, a credible commitment to stable prices. The entire worldwide financial system depends on that independence. 

With one fell swoop, Trump could destroy it, and set off a global panic. 

None of that has stopped some of Trump’s economic advisers, such as Heritage Foundation fellow Stephen Moore, from encouraging Trump to fire Powell, plus everyone else at the Fed, too. That’s ultimately what would be necessary for Trump to get the looser money he wants: He appointed four of five sitting Fed board governors, and last week they all voted unanimously for a rate hike. 

Fortunately, some Trump officials know how disastrous such developments could be. Unfortunately, those officials also appear to be incompetent. 

First, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tweeted a quote purportedly from Trump himself, declaring that “I never suggested firing Chairman Jay Powell, nor do I believe I have the right to do so.”  [snip]

Then Mnuchin decided to make things worse. 

On Sunday, he released a seemingly panicked statement urging the public not to panic. From his Mexican golf vacation, Mnuchin had called heads of our biggest banks and then told the world that these banks had enough liquidity to continue lending. He also announced an emergency Christmas Eve convening of the “Plunge Protection Team,” which includes heads of the Fed, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. 

I cannot sufficiently stress how amateurish it was for Mnuchin to make this announcement. 

Or, in other words, when you elect clowns, you should expect a circus.

Fortunately, we just elected a House full of competent Democrats who will try mightily to steer the circus clowns away from the rocks. For our sake, not Individual 1's, we need them to succeed.

Message To The Media: There's One Guilty Party

As we note below, some in the media continue to be suckered by the shading and word- smithing of pathological liar Donald "Rump" Trump and his cynical right- wing enablers. Catherine Rampell has a timely read today about the need for the media and chin- strokers to stop using language that absolves the guilty, in this case in the gun control and Dreamer debates:

Dysfunctional Washington refuses to work out its differences to solve problems that matter to Americans. 

So say pundits and policy activists, perhaps hoping that diffuse criticism, rather than finger-pointing, will yield a government willing to govern. 

But the problem isn’t “Washington.” It isn’t “Congress,” either. The problem is elected officials from a single political party: the GOP.  (our emphasis)

The op/ ed continues with examples of this problem, and why not being honest about who's thwarting responsible action enables the Republican obstructors.  It's a cliche to say that these are no ordinary times. But we've never faced such a threat to our values as is represented by Putin puppet Rump and his rotted- out Republican Party.  It's no time for the people who claim to be "truth tellers" to be unclear about the peril we face and who's responsible.

Morning Reading - More On RepubliCare/ TrumpCare

Several interesting reads this morning on the House Republicans' "health care" bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). As always, please go to the link for the full articles (our emphasis throughout).

Catherine Rampell illuminates the real purpose of the bill:

Let’s abandon the pretense. 

Republicans’ “health care” bill is not really about health care. It’s not about improving access to health insurance, or reducing premiums, or making sure you get to keep your doctor if you like your doctor. And it’s certainly not about preventing people from dying in the streets. 

Instead, it’s about hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts — tax cuts that will quietly pave the way for more, and far larger, tax cuts.

She points to the strategy behind this nothing- about- health- care monstrosity:

The presence of expensive tax cuts in a bill purportedly about health-care reform is not a side effect; it’s the entire point. They make it easier for Republicans’ (much bigger) individual and corporate tax cuts to sail through the Senate with minimal Democratic obstruction in a few months’ time. 

Why? Under normal circumstances, Democrats would almost certainly filibuster the coming tax overhaul, preventing it from ever getting to a vote. But Republicans can take the filibuster option away by using the “reconciliation” process, which is an option if, and only if, the tax bill doesn’t increase government deficits in the long term, relative to existing law. 

How do you keep tax cuts from increasing deficits relative to existing law? One useful tool is to change existing law — that is, to move the goalposts. Cutting taxes in the Obamacare repeal bill today lowers the revenue baseline against which a tax overhaul plan will be judged tomorrow. 

With these Republicans and their weaselly Speaker Paul "Lyin'" Ryan (R- Galt's Gulch), it's always about tax cuts for the well- to- do and to hell with everyone else.

Eugene Robinson picks up on the other Republican myth exposed here:

It’s time to put an end to the myth that Republicans believe in fiscal responsibility. Saving taxpayer dollars takes a back seat to the ideological imperative of blaming and shaming the poor. 

Witness the GOP’s long-awaited plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. House committees are moving forward on the legislation before the Congressional Budget Office has even had a chance to estimate how much the measure will cost. Why the rush? Because if the plan doesn’t snatch away health insurance coverage from millions of people — and both President Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) swear it won’t — then it’s surely going to cost a ton. 

The Republican plan would take away the ACA’s subsidies and replace them with refundable tax credits based on age for incomes up to $75,000 for an individual and $150,000 for a married couple. This means a windfall for those who are older and well-to-do. In essence, the plan would expand government assistance to encompass many who don’t really need it — in order to avoid targeting help toward those who do. 

The GOP plan would also eliminate the ACA’s penalty fee for not having health insurance, which goes into the public till — and replace it with a different penalty fee that goes to the insurance companies. Apparently Republicans have no problem committing what they once called “extortion” if the benefit goes to private companies, not the common good. 

Keep in mind that Trump and GOP leaders in Congress promise that after dealing with health care they will seek huge tax cuts, including for the wealthy. As fiscal policy, how does this make sense? 

It doesn’t. It only makes sense as ideology. In today’s Republican Party, policies have to satisfy the belief that the less fortunate are poor by choice. 

Will any of this transparent hypocrisy and sociopathy ever become apparent to the Republican or Republican- leaning voter, and would it matter if it did?  Some polling shows these voters are split on the issue of tax cuts for the wealthy, but the reality is that the historical tribal urge to vote Republican regardless ensures that policymakers like Ryan continue to try to enact their dystopian, plutocratic vision to their detriment and to the detriment of the most vulnerable among us.

National Shame

You couldn't toss a rock this morning and not hit a news story, an editorial or op/ ed about neo- fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump's un- American Muslim ban.

Our first order of business is to debunk Rump's and his cast of lying sycophants' claim that only 109 people are being affected by the Muslim ban. That would be off by a magnitude of several tens of thousands: it's more like 90,000.  Always remember these poor excuses for human beings are pathological liars.

Now, here are a few opinions that caught our eye (as always, please check out the full piece at the link).

Frequent blind squirrel and former Bush speechwriter Michael "Mushroom Cloud" Gerson rips Rump a new one:

The image of President Trump, flanked by Vice President Pence and Defense Secretary James Mattis, signing an executive order that (among other things) excludes Syrian refugees from the United States, is indelible. Three powerful American leaders, targeting and dehumanizing some of the most vulnerable people on Earth. A picture of bullying. A picture of cruelty. A picture of national shame.

You can skip Gerson's last paragraph, where he feels obliged to cite Ronnie Reagan as a counterpoint. Reagan, of course, is the spiritual father of these assorted white nationalists and nihilists running the show now. Look it up on Breitbart or WND ("wing nut daily"), Gerson. They see all kinds of similarities.

Catherine Rampell reminds us of the colossal cowardice and hypocrisy that's part of the Republican Party's DNA:

Where, exactly, is the red line for Republicans in Congress right now? 

We have a president with pronounced authoritarian tendencies, who believes he “alone can fix it”; who signs sweeping executive orders reportedly without even briefing relevant Cabinet members on the logistical, humanitarian and national security consequences; who directs his staff and surrogates to lie about the tiniest and most ridiculous and easily fact-checkable of details; and whose staffers brought us to the brink of a constitutional crisis when they ignored federal court orders. [snip] 

A mere year ago, Republican leaders condemned Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) said it was “not conservatism.” Then-Gov. Mike Pence (Ind.) called it “offensive and unconstitutional.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) called it “completely and totally inconsistent with American values.” Senator and then-presidential-candidate Marco Rubio (Fla.) agreed, saying, “It violates a lot of the things that we think about our country.”

Maybe when perceive that their own skinny necks are on the electoral chopping block they'll suddenly see that "red line." Or not.

Jonathan Alter on "the least American president of the United States":

The most striking thing about President Trump’s first 10 days in office is that the ardent nationalist who pledged to put “America first” is emerging as the least American president of the United States. 

By least American, I mean least connected to the larger democratic values that define the country. 

Our national identity is unique in the world because it’s based not on race, religion, or country of origin, but on ideals that transcend party 

Such ideals are at odds with a president who lies promiscuously, destabilizes the government with impulsive, discriminatory, and inhumane policies backed up with jarring firings, and cannot allow his White House to apologize or admir error under any circumstances, even for neglecting to mention Jews in a Holocaust commemoration. Those are the telltale signs of a foreign dictator, not an American leader. 

This morning*, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to confirm as Attorney General slimy neo- Confederate weasel Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (KKK- AL) who is said to have had his hand in the Muslim ban order as well as other un- American actions by this White (supremacist) House junta.  With that knowledge alone, as we say in the post below, if there's one Democrat on the committee or in the full Senate who votes for this "thing," he or she should be written out of the Democratic Party.  Period.'

* The vote today was delayed, not in small part because the Russo Republicans couldn't keep their half-assed members in the room long enough to vote.

Morning Reading

A few things to look at this morning. As always, please check out the entire articles at the links (our emphasis throughout).

Catherine Rampell on neo- fascist incompetent Donald "Rump" Trump's "management" style:

If this is what “running government like a business” looks like, it’s no wonder President Trump’s companies kept going bankrupt. 

One week into the presidency, we’ve gotten a taste of Trump’s management style. And so far it’s been plagued by many of the bad habits common to poorly run businesses.  

From what we had years to observe, Rump was a con artist, a fraud, an incompetent, and a world- class narcissist.  That he would be a teetotal disaster bringing those "skills" and temperament to the presidency was not lost on a majority of the voters. (And the incompetence trickles down, as they say.)

Adam Gopnik on why George Orwell would recognize Rump's America, with Rump's "voter fraud" witch snipe hunt as an example:

... Watch: there will be a “commission” consisting of experts borrowed from Breitbart; it will hold no hearings, or hold absurdly closed ones; or hold ones with testimony from frequent callers to “The Alex Jones Show”—and this clownish commission will then baldly conclude that there is, indeed, widespread evidence of voter fraud. And Trump will reassert the lie and point to his commission’s findings as his evidence. 

Meanwhile, the Republicans in Congress, thoroughly intimidated, fear shining from one eye and cupidity from the other, will exploit the “question” of voter fraud to pursue policies of actually suppressing minority voters. 

Speaking of Congressional Republicans, Infidel asks of those who are whispering about Rump's unbalanced behavior:

My question to those "Republican officials" who are now suddenly so alarmed, though, is this -- have you been living in a cave for the last year and a half?  Trump didn't suddenly start behaving like this six days ago.  Throughout the whole primary and general-election campaign, he displayed the mental stability of a foul-mouthed, bad-tempered toddler.  Why didn't you stop him?  The Republican establishment's anti-Trump efforts are already going down in history as the epitome of fecklessness and cowardice.  "Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world," with H-bombs on standby yet, and now all of a sudden you've noticed that this guy is too unstable and impulsive to occupy the position you helped him get "elected" to?

Opinion writers and us bloggers are one thing. But reporters at the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle are possibly joining us in the reality- based world (several months too late), if you can judge by how their ledes are, for now, being written. Here's today's example.

Ashley Parker and Sean Sullivan have a "reality check" for Rump:

Many of the sweeping actions President Trump vowed this week through his executive orders and proclamations are unlikely to happen, either because they are impractical, opposed by Congress and members of his Cabinet, or full of legal holes. 

The reality — that yawning gap between what Trump says he will do and what he actually can do — underscores his chaotic start, which includes executive actions drafted by close aides rather than experts and without input from the agencies tasked with implementing them.

We'll be keeping an eye on the new articles and media reports to see how well and how long they keep pointing to Emperor Rump's lack of clothes and his catastrophic Russo- Republican administration.

Republicans Getting Away With Their "Dishonesty And Buffoonery"

If nothing else, the Republican clown car bus "debates" have demonstrated anew that, when their crackpot lies are challenged by the media, the most successful course of action is to lie some more and blame the media (and, as Catherine Rampell explains below, the media is to blame -- for abetting this behavior).   It's a guaranteed winner with their low- information base, and it puts the media on the defensive in future encounters (example:  following their "suspension" from a February "debate," NBC News is already trying to make nice with Republican National Committee Chairstain Reince "Prepuce" Priebus, saying they want to "work in good faith to resolve this matter," i.e., make sure there are no hardball questions or followups the next time, and that the moderators' lips are firmly attached to the candidates' arses).  Please read both pieces in their entirety to see how the rules work for Republicans.

Brian Beutler on the "GOP's Grotesque Festival of Lies":

In the long run, conservatives suffer more the deeper they burrow themselves into an ecosystem of convenient misinformation. But in the short run, they've figured out that denying documented reality and attacking the messenger can completely snow over the truth. That creates a big problem for journalists, who should view the attacks against Harwood and the others as an affront to the profession.

Catherine Rampell on how the media rewards the liars and demagogues:

The Republican presidential candidates are right. The media do suck.

But not for the reasons the candidates complained about Wednesday night.

We in the media suck because we have rewarded their rampant dishonesty and buffoonery with nonstop news coverage. Which, of course, has encouraged more dishonesty and buffoonery.

Hence the aggravating behaviors that candidates doubled down on during the debate, based on lessons that we in the media taught them. To wit:

Lesson No. 1: Lie, but lie confidently.  [snip]

Lesson No. 2: Invent your own math.  [snip]

Lesson No. 3: If you can’t think of something better to say, just bash the media.   [snip]

Accordingly, by Wednesday, the candidates had all learned to dodge difficult questions by accusing the moderators of bias. Usually, the charge was that they were too liberal. (Yes, CNBC, the channel that launched the tea party and employs the United States’ most famous supply-sider, is apparently a commie paradise.) Or they accused the media of not asking substantive questions, right in the middle of ducking substantive questions.

In the end, the biggest applause lines were all media insults. They came from Rubio, Ted Cruz and Christie.

Guess whom CNBC then crowned the winners of the debate? Rubio, Cruz and Christie.

Well done, gents. We’ve trained you well.  (our emphasis)

This is a potential tipping point in how the media (especially corporate media) take on the challenge of confronting the Republicans' "dishonesty and buffoonery."  Judging from the initial reaction, they're going to fold like a cheap suit.

BONUS:  David Atkins at Washington Monthly has a good read about why this "attack the messenger" strategy will backfire come the general election;  color us skeptical.

BONUS II:  When you're Fox Business, the RNC never has to worry about who's asking the questions.

BONUS III:  Joan Walsh is right;  might as well let Hannity and Limbaugh moderate the next Republican "debate."