There’s a step missing
How does anyone manage to believe this? The Washington Post:
NEW CASTLE, Pennsylvania — Lori Mosura goes to the grocery store on a bicycle because she can’t afford to fix her Ford F-150 truck.
The single mother and her 17-year-old son live in an apartment that is so small she sleeps in the dining room. They receive $1,200 each month in food stamps and Social Security benefits but still come up short. Mosura said she often must decide whether to buy milk or toilet paper.
It was all that penny-pinching that drove the part-time tax consultant to abandon the Democratic Party this fall and vote for Donald Trump.
“He is more attuned to the needs of everyone instead of just the rich,” Mosura, 55, said on a recent afternoon. “I think he knows it’s the poor people that got him elected, so I think Trump is going to do more to help us.”
???????
What on earth could possibly lead anyone to think that?
He’s not attuned to anyone’s needs, and he’s sure as hell not attuned to the needs of poor people.
I can’t figure out what chain of reasoning could get anyone there.
He was never a landlord attuned to the needs of poor people, nor an employer attuned to the needs of poor people, nor a private citizen attuned to the needs of poor people, nor a tv star attuned to the needs of poor people.
Now, low-income Americans who voted for Trump say they are counting on him to keep their benefits intact even while his Cabinet picks and Republican lawmakers call on him to reduce federal spending.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — whom Trump has chosen to lead a new nongovernmental advisory panel, the “Department of Government Efficiency” — have said they want to trim $2 trillion from the government’s annual budget, a cut that some experts say could be accomplished only by slashing entitlement programs. Trump’s pick for White House budget director was a key architect of Project 2025, a plan drawn up by conservatives to guide his second term that calls for steep cuts to programs such as food stamps. And GOP leaders in Congress and Trump advisers are considering significant changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other federal aid.
That’s because they’re so attuned to the needs of poor people.
It’s more a matter of not thinking. Krugman:
He brings receipts: https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-chaos-monkeys-have-already-taken
But now that they’ve elected Trump, they are screwed. Interesting questions
– will they realize this?
– if so, when?
– will it make any difference?
Over Thanksgiving, I spent time with my family. While most of them are not Trump voters, listening to their conversations (and yes, they are low information voters) highlights the ways that Trump comes to power. They are people who don’t see the need to pay school taxes when they don’t have kids in school, though they had four children who went through the school system at taxpayers’ expense. They don’t see why voters who rent should be allowed to vote on things like property tax since they don’t pay it (and would not accept that they actually do pay it; the landlords fold it into their rent.) They don’t see the need to help out students, because students take out loans and live off them…never mind that they did that twice – once for him, and once for her. And they weren’t on loans, they were on grants, which don’t have to be paid back. They will not tip because they believe waitresses make more than they do, nor will they get behind any sort of minimum wage increase because they don’t want the price of hamburgers to go up. The idea that people are living on below poverty wages is fine; others can starve as long as they live the lifestyle they want.
And on it went…trying to insert information into the conversation was like trying to nail soup to a wall. There was a very fingers-in-the-ears, nyah nyah I don’t hear you feeling. They hated Biden as much as Trump, if not more, because they believe he is giving their money away to the undeserving poor.
The Founders were right; a more expansive franchise isn’t particularly desirable. Now if compulsory voting were a thing, maybe. At least then we’d get a fully representative vote. Cracking open a real newspaper and reading something other than the opinion section should also be a requirement.
But I’m with Steven; will they punish the politicians for their failures or will he get a pass (“just give him more time”)?
I gifted myself a number of books, in fact, so many I may not get through them all by year’s end.*
One I cracked open yesterday and am finding elucidates what I have been observing, but could not express as clearly, and that book is “When The Clock Broke”. If the rest of it is as good as the part I’ve already read it will be well referenced in future debates.
https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/18895/when-the-clock-broke
* 2025
BKiSA, we have a form of compulsory voting in Australia. While no one can be compelled to complete a ballot paper, every citizen 17 or above must register to vote and 18 or above must either attend a polling place or obtain a postal ballot. Those who do not will be fined.*
Just as you argue compulsory voting may improve America’s election outcomes, supporters of our losing party rail against compulsory voting claiming it robs their side as people only vote because they’re forced to.
That argument assumes those who only vote do because they are compelled always vote the same way, just as the GOP argues, without evidence, that all illegals always vote Democrat.
The bigger issue that I see here, in the USA, Canada, UK, and other similar political systems is that debate is no longer about policy, it is about whose side you’re on. It is incredibly rare to see bipartisan support on any issues other than war spending, tax cuts for the rich, and greater advantages for Landlords over Tenants.
* In my case I returned to South Australia after 11 years living in New Zealand and went to regain a South Australian Driver License. I was unable to do that as my old license had been suspended for failing to vote and failing to pay the subsequent fine. To get a licence I had to visit a JP and swear a stat dec that I was out of the country and unaware of any elections. Then a licence was issued to me, the same number I always had.
Probably not right away. AP-NORC poll from early December:
Most adults feel the need to limit political news consumption due to fatigue and information overload