You’ve been hearing that Americans just don’t “get” how well our economy’s doing? And you’re not particularly inclined to blame them, even though wage growth is actually outpacing inflation for the first time in decades? Well, Paul Waldman reminds us that the vast majority of folks who tell pollsters that the economy’s doing badly are Republicans, which totally tracks! Particularly since Republican poll respondents seem to think our economy’s worse than it was in 2009 or 2010 – which, like, we’re not stupid, OK? – and also since Americans generally act like this is a good economy, i.e., by starting businesses or spending more money.
At least one California corporation thinks that electric car batteries can be used for solar power storage systems even if they’re so depleted that the cars can’t use them anymore, so I guess that’s for your right-wing friends who can’t stop whining BUT WHEREZ WILLZ WEZ PUTZ TEHZ EXPIRUDZ BATTERIEZ HA HA HA HA STUPIDZ LIBRULZ!!!!!! If you still have right-wing friends, of course. (Oh, and if they whine that TEH ELECTRICZ BATTUREEZ CAUSEZ MOREZ OFZ TEH FIURZ!!!!!, well, they’re full of soup about that, too.)
Good West Virginians could be paying more to clean up coal corporation pollution, and let us note that state legislators of both parties have failed to fund the state’s abandoned mine clean-up program (and way before coal corporations started going belly up), while West Virginia’s Republican Governor just fired a critical clean-up fund advisor, and President Biden has somehow failed to even nominate a new Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement administrator (who could force West Virginia’s government to act). The story even features the gnarled hand of Tha Bush Mobb promising to issue new, stronger regulations and then, stop me if you’ve heard this before, never getting around to it or explaining why. Of course Tha Bush Mobb was never the place to learn to clean up your mess.
In case you were wondering, yes our “liberal” media gave a lot more coverage to Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” remark than they’ve given to Donald Trump’s “vermin” remark, and it’s no use objecting that people are so numb to what Donald Trump says now that of course our media didn’t say much about it, or that maybe we shouldn’t respond to everything he says with more coverage, or, even, that Mr. Trump may not have meant you or I per se when he said “vermin.” Because guess what? No one murdered a “deplorable,” but someone will absolutely murder a “vermin.” (Of course, when he then tries to say it’s all Mr. Trump’s fault, I’ll remind everyone that murder is absolutely something for which one needs to take personal responsibility.)
When I hear that drama hound Jesse Watters at Fox News found a clip of President Biden drinking a milkshake through a straw and thought that was unmanly or something, all I can say is gosh, Mr. Watters, hate yourself much? And though we could tabulate all the layers of this hypocritical onion (Mr. Watters didn’t get upset that time His Personal Lord and Savior himself used a straw on a smoothie!), better to tell all your friends and neighbors to vote against drama in 2024, and fight drama every day until Election Day 2024.
David E. Clemenston at The Conversation reminds us that folks judge people like now-expelled Rep. George Santos (E-NY) as “trustworthy” “almost entirely from perceptions of their demeanor, not the words they utter,” and though he talks about Mr. Santos as someone who “speaks with certitude” and “has a charming, friendly, and interactive manner,” his point maps on to something I’ve been thinking for a long time. The advantage Republicans have today is tone, not better arguments – they sound like go-getters and problem-solvers, where too many Democrats sound like they’re just trying not to anger anyone (particularly their big donors!), and whether people articulate it or not, they hate politicians who sound like that.
Finally, staying with the George Santos Experience, Steve Bannon’s so full of rage about his expulsion – because rage is, apparently, all he can feel – that he says if “They want a civil war, they got one!” Seriously, a “civil war” over the expulsion of George Santos? Just as junkies only care about junk, dramatic people only care about drama, and if Donald Trump wins in 2024, dramatic people like Steve Bannon will be running this country into the ground again. So let’s do everything we can to prevent that from happening. Yes, even if it means re-electing a boring old Democratic President who’s actually doing a good job.
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