Republicans want to start winning again, but way too many of them don’t want to face reality; the one where Donald Trump is a dishonest sociopath who has never met a lie he wouldn’t embrace if he thought it would help him even the smallest bit. Another reality is an enormous number of GOP Senators and Congressmen are just as dishonest as Trump; but not as good at making it work for them as he is. The third reality; the Supreme Court, the pinnacle of our judicial system is stocked with losers who steal with both hands, take orders from religious cults, are guilty of various felonies and have completely lost the respect of any-clear thinking person.
But there are enough people left who understand that many of those who have committed to working for them, are not even coming close to doing their jobs.
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The big noise this week is all about the debt ceiling and whether or not one of the parties will lead us over the cliff.
It seems pretty clear that certain elements of the debate are more acceptable than others, but there are central issues that cannot be ignored, and which will dictate the success or failure of our government in settling its main economic issue.
Biden was smart enough to open with the announcement that he would consider a one trillion-dollar rollback on certain items in the budget but that he would then expect the GOP to reciprocate when it came to the approval of new taxes on the super-rich and corporations. So far it doesn’t look like the GOP is willing to consider those new taxes, not after Donald Trump and his GOP buddies went to all the trouble of getting rid of them. It was, after all, the only functional legislation passed in his four years in office.
No one is even talking about the military budget, which is the biggest waste of money in the history of mankind, and we aren’t even at war with anybody. Still, we keep buying new and more expensive armament to fight wars that we may be involved in, in the future. Of course, most of the purchasing agreements with major weapons cmpanies are the result not of military demands or the excellence of the weapons manufacturer’s engineering departments, but of those same company’s lobbying efforts. Congress decides because congress benefits, and you can take that to the bank.
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Francis Suarez, mayor of Miami was on Face the Nation last week talking to Margaret Brennan. He appears to be a very smart guy and one who is serving his city well. But he’s also talking about running for President. That’s a long reach for any politician and one which will take him away from a job he does very well. One of principal problems of politics, and many other occupations, is overreach. Suarez is truly good at what he does. Maybe he should keep doing it until he has solved more of Miami’s problems and has a better base.
This is a Presidential race that is overflowing with incompetence and crazies on the GOP side. Suarez’ own governor is one of the primary examples of both. Any sane GOP candidate should stay as far from this fray as humanly possible, or they will be buried in the insanity. No one is going to come out of this fight looking anything but nuts. Suarez is still young. He should turn Miami into a golden city and then in ‘28 or ‘32 come out swinging in a real fight for the GOP nomination.
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Ron DeSantis has stated that he wants to be the non-Trump Republican candidate. Unfortunately, be failed to mention wanting to be the Non- Adolph Hitler, Joseph McCarthy, or Bashar-al Assad, Republican, thereby dealing the Truth a fatal blow. This guy plans to turn America into a fascist dictatorship. He started where all fascist dictators start, banning books. He has been so aggressive that Move ON, a progressive organization, has created a bookmobile, which will load up these banned books and distribute them free all across the state, at schools from which DeSantis has had them banned.
DeSantis’ big claim to electability is that he wants to. “Make America Florida.” Yeah, that’ll work. America really wants to ban all books dealing with the truth about African American history, the LGBTQ+ community, antisemitism, and the Nazi threat.
America really wants to live with one of the worst abortion laws passed in any anti- women’s rights states.
America really wants to deal with laws making it a felony to provide gender-affirming care for trans youth, and America really wants laws like the new one, signed by DeSantis on April 3rd, which allows a person to carry a gun without a permit or training.
Americans do not want laws like the “Don’t say Gay” law in Florida, and they certainty do not want them expanded in any way.
Americans do not want to see ICE turned further into the “American Gestapo,” raiding immigrant living facilities, and arresting people who have already applied for work permits, thereby stealing, desperately needed workers from their employers.
This may be DeSantis twisted vision of America, but for those of us who look to a Democratically run nation it is a catastrophe, and DeSantis is just another wanna-be, petty dictator with visions of Nazi supremacy who must be crushed. He may beat Trump in the primary, but it will be a national disaster if this fascist clown ever goes any farther.
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After 4 years of leading the most malfunctioning government in the history of the nation Donald Trump is still fighting to prove he is an ignorant, psychotic, sociopath, and the worst President in the history of America. He displayed his intent to sow chaos once again this week when he stated that the GOP should force a default on the national debt.
This is the most irresponsible position it is possible for a politician to take, especially one who oversaw three resets of the national debt limit during his time in office.
Why would Trump take such a dangerous position? Does he think that if we actually defaulted, the chaos created would hurt reigning President Biden enough to get him elected?
Having watched Trump make decision after decision that was bad for the country but aimed at helping him personally, it is not inconceivable that this is exactly his thinking. He has already proven that he cares nothing for the nation, but only about how he can personally benefit, and the problem is now left at the feet of our incredibly weak Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy.
McCarthy’s problem is that he had to give away all his power to get a job for which he was never qualified. Now he is at the mercy of every half-assed bigot in the GOP. The nation is under attack by every non-functional GOP lout that wants to grab a little something for himself by endangering the well-being of everyone in the nation.
On the other hand, Biden has probably kept silent too long. It’s way past time for him to use the bully pulpit to tell the American people exactly what is going on. Tell them that the GOP wants to starve the poor and fatten up the rich and are using the debt ceiling negotiations as a means to that end. Every item that the GOP is fighting to eliminate, leads directly to poverty and misery for millions of Americans.