Category: Politics, Religion & Money

This is the Presidential track record for how the domestic economy fared at the end of each past administration during the lifetime of most Millenials, and how it’s faring now:

• Bush Sr.: Bad
• Clinton: Good
• Bush Jr.: Bad
• Obama: Good
• Trump: Bad

Bush Sr. had the last “normal” recession, and one of the reasons for it should have earned him praise. Bush cut defense spending after the first Gulf War.

Before the arrival of the coronavirus I expected Trump would be reelected, because it’s the economy stupid. When the pandemic hit home, the Fed and Treasury acted quickly to prop up Wall Street, but eventually economic reality will pull it down, unless the pandemic is put under control. We will have a much better chance of that happening with Biden and Harris in office.

I heard the same thing from some of those same people who said so. I’m not the one saying it, they are. Those same people. You know it and I know it.

“There are people who will slap you on the back with one hand, and pick your pocket with the other.” That was the catchphrase of Racket Squad a syndicated TV series from the early 50’s. The show exposed how con men run their rackets. “Captain Braddock, Captain Braddock… ready.”

https://youtu.be/s_i5XdOnowU

Scams still abound, of course. I get calls every day on the landline with fake caller ID’s. Most don’t leave voice messages, but every so often there is one saying the IRS is investigating me and I must return the call immediately. Another trick is a fake Microsoft security alert message embedded in a Web page. The scammers are in India, with their English being, I suppose, a legacy of British colonial rule.

Back in May I posted John Oliver’s explanation of how a 2006 law not only clobbered the USPS financially, it hobbled its ability to cope with it. Now that Trump has one of his rich enablers appointed as Postmaster General, the situation is getting worse, and it’s happening fast.

I recently mailed in my application form to vote by mail in the primary and general election. The one thing about it that I’m hoping will keep Trump from interfering with the process is that everything will be, or it should be, local. All the ballots go to the post office, and from there to the town hall or city hall for counting.

Yesterday, Trump doubled-down yet again on dismissing Dr. Fauci’s facts and promoting hydroxychloroquine. Today he’s with Fauci and wearing a mask. The pandemic has Donald reversing himself but only briefly, because reality is forcing him to make occasional nods in its direction. He always returns, without fail, to his make-believe world of conspiracy theories, because he knows that’s what his loyal followers love. His latest false narrative is that voting by mail will lead to a massively fraudulent election.

I know a few people who continue to believe in Trump wholeheartedly, and honestly I just don’t understand why. As I have pointed out before, I spotted him as a con man and called him a freak 30 years ago. He hasn’t changed since then, and his election in 2016 is proof of how much everything else has changed. At this point there’s no turning Trump’s hardcore followers, with many of them brought into the fold by the king of insane conspiracy theories, Alex Jones.