The Grauniad fires Trump

[MajGenl.Meade]

. . . or rather, supposes that the American people will (or have) and suggest this is a "letter from America" a la Alistair Cooke perhaps:

Dear Mr President,

While many of us disagree on ideology and values, we agree on practical things like obeying the constitution and not letting big corporations and the wealthy run everything.

Your 35-day government shutdown was a senseless abuse of power. So too your “national emergency” to build your wall with money Congress refused to appropriate.

When you passed your tax bill you promised our paychecks would rise by an average of $4,000 but we never got the raise. Our employers used the tax savings to buy back their shares of stock and give themselves raises instead.

Then you fooled us into thinking we were getting a cut by lowering the amounts withheld from our 2018 paychecks. We know that now because we’re getting smaller tax refunds.

At the same time, many big corporations aren’t paying a dime in taxes. Worse yet, they’re getting refunds.

For example, GM is paying zilch and claiming a $104m refund on $11.8bn of profits. Amazon is paying no taxes and claiming a $129m refund on profits of $11.2bn. (This is after New York offered it $3bn to put its second headquarters there.)

They aren’t breaking any tax laws or regulations. That’s because they made the tax laws and regulations. You gave them a free hand.

You’re supposed to be working for us, not for giant corporations. But they’re doing better than ever, as are their top executives and biggest investors. Yet nothing has trickled down. We’re getting shafted.

Which is why more than 75% of us (including 45% who call ourselves Republicans) support Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposed 70% tax on dollars earned in excess of $10m a year.

And over 60% of us support Elizabeth Warren’s proposed 2% annual tax on households with a new worth of $50m or more.

You’ve also shown you don’t have a clue about healthcare. You promised us something better than the Affordable Care Act but all you’ve done is whittle it back.

A big reason we gave Democrats control of the House last November was your threat to eliminate protection for people with pre-existing conditions.

Are you even aware that 70% of us now favor Medicare for all?

Most of us don’t pay much attention to national policy but we pay a lot of attention to home economics. You’ve made our own home economics worse.

We’ll give you official notice you’re fired on 3 November 2020, if not before. Until then, you can keep the house and perks, but you’re toast.

Respectfully,

America.

[Lord Jim]

Are you even aware that 70% of us now favor Medicare for all? (So long as it doesn't affect our private insurance, or raise our taxes.)

Edited for accuracy...

[Crackpot]

More accurately stated Jim is as long as it has coverage at least as good as I have now for the same or less cost

[ex-khobar Andy]

This is from a column by Robert Reich who was Clinton's Secretary of Labor.

Interestingly, the subheading to the piece is:

The Mueller report looms but the president is doomed anyway – no one who screws the people so blatantly can win re-election.

I beg to differ. Trump has been screwing people blatantly (and I am not talking about screwing in the Stormy sense) for years, and it didn't stop him being elected in the first place.

Most of us have a very hard time admitting we were wrong. Just to give an example from my side of politics, those us who thought that he was doing a good job should still have realized that Clinton was a slimeball long before the Lewinsky caper but we didn't and even defended the guy when the Republicans (led by such exemplars of virtue as Gingrich) began to attack him. (My personal realization that the guy was a turd was when he travelled back to Arkansas during the campaign in order to sign the death warrant for a mentally damaged murderer whose name, unfortunately, now escapes me.*) Catholics the world over still give their money to an organization which has long been shown to comprise far more than its fair share of perverts and pederasts. I suspect that the bulk of the money handed over in collections goes not to the deserving poor but to settle claims. I have seen way too many cases in business where it is clear that Mr XXXXX is an incompetent idiot asshole but who was hired by the Exec VP who is unable to admit that he was blinded by the stellar resume, the Armani suit and the winning smile. So he stays on and the rest of us try to clear up after him.

I think Reich is right - he will not be re-elected; but it's not as if a mere 5% of the population will vote for him. I think it will still be 40% - not enough to get him back in, but still a terrifying number. Those people are out there.

Fun fact. The Guardian has been fondly known as the Grauniad for years because of its tendency, during the days of hot lead printing, to execute memorable typos. It was even rumored to have printed its front page title as The Grauniad once but that was never proven. But as recently as last week, in the report of Albert Finney's death, we were told that he had starred in Eric Brockovich. Two days ago (it's Oscars week) we were told that Better Davis had starred in All About Eve. Much merriment in the comments on these stories, and fabled typos from the past (the famous opera Doris Godunov, for example) were resurrected for the benefit of newer readers. If you type http://www.grauniad.com into your browser it takes you, without comment, to The Guardian site.

* Ricky Ray Rector - I just looked it up.

[Bicycle Bill]

The Mueller report looms but the president is doomed anyway – no one who screws the people so blatantly can win re-election.

I beg to differ. Trump has been screwing people blatantly (and I am not talking about screwing in the Stormy sense) for years, and it didn't stop him being elected in the first place.

Most of us have a very hard time admitting we were wrong. Just to give an example from my side of politics, those us who thought that he was doing a good job should still have realized that Clinton was a slimeball long before the Lewinsky caper but we didn't and even defended the guy when the Republicans (led by such exemplars of virtue as Gingrich) began to attack him. ... Catholics the world over still give their money to an organization which has long been shown to comprise far more than its fair share of perverts and pederasts. ... I have seen way too many cases in business where it is clear that Mr XXXXX is an incompetent idiot asshole but who was hired by the Exec VP who is unable to admit that he was blinded by the stellar resume, the Armani suit and the winning smile. So he stays on and the rest of us try to clear up after him.

I think Reich is right - he will not be re-elected; but it's not as if a mere 5% of the population will vote for him. I think it will still be 40% - not enough to get him back in, but still a terrifying number. Those people are out there.

I believe you're spot on so far as you go here, X-KA, but may I toss another theory into the mix?

Ever heard of "crab mentality" (aside: I'm sure wesw has), also known as "crabs in a bucket"?  This is a demonstrated behavior of crabs when caught and placed in a bucket, barrel, or some other container.  Any one of them could easily escape, but the remaining crabs in the pot will continually pull it back or otherwise thwart its attempts, ensuring the ultimate demise of all.  It is best summed up as "If I can't have something, neither can you!"

I believe this is similar to what we are seeing with Trump supporters.  They are perfectly willing to turn a blind eye to the fact that they are getting screwed, blued, and tattooed — and will even line up and come back for more! — so long as they believe that someone else (immigrants, documented or not; people of color; women; the "undeserving poor"; liberals) is getting fucked over even worse than they are.  Just look at how many of their demands and talking points have to do with taking something away from someone else, like Obamacare, spending for education, or funding for mass transit — Trump's hatchet-job a couple of days ago with regard to the California high-speed rail project (CAHSR) is a perfect example, as was Scottie Walker's similar action even before he officially took office back in 2011 that wiped out a project that would have created a commuter rail link between Madison and Milwaukee in Wisconsin — and tell me I'm wrong.

-"BB"-

[Long Run]

One significant flaw with single payer, especially in the failed state efforts to implement one, is the misconception that all current contributions to private plans can be captured for the single public plan. Neither the employers nor the employees are in favor of such a result (or stated another way, are adamantly opposed). Without that capture (confiscation), single payer is far beyond the ability of any U.S. governmental entity to tax and pay for.

[RayThom]

No... it's not Jim Croce's version of "Crabs In A Bucket"

[ex-khobar Andy]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but today's Grauniad typo is from a story about the golf tournament in Mexico this weekend. Apparently there was some discussion about application of the rules which may have favored the ultimate winner.

Glory for Dustin Johnson at the WGC-Mexico, his second success in only three appearances here, was overshadowed in part by the sort of controversy that has suddenly become a common bedfellow for a sport once portrayed as gentile in nature.

Now I know that some golf clubs routinely excluded Jews for a long time but I'm pretty sure they meant 'genteel' here.