Thursday, September 10, 2026
Voters Have A Low Opinion Of How Trump Is Doing His Job
The chart above reflects the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between September 4th and 8th of a nationwide sample of 1,469 registered voters, with a 3.4 point margin of error.
Is Congress Finally Getting Ready To Fix Social Security Funding?
Robert Reich thinks some Republicans may be ready to help Democrats fix Social Security's funding problem:
Today I want to talk to you about Social Security.
The trustees of Social Security — of which yours truly was once a member — say the program will be able to pay full benefits only until 2033. After that, Social Security will be able to dole out only roughly 77 percent of benefits due.
This summer, Ohio’s Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno joined Sen. Elizabeth Warren in proposing to raise the payroll tax cap so people with higher incomes pay more into the program.
Fairly suddenly, the idea is emerging as an acceptable fix among other GOP lawmakers,including Rep. Tom Cole (Oklahoma), the influential chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
Cole thinks the political blowback from Social Security benefit cuts would be far worse than a comprehensive solution that includes raising taxes.
It’s another example of Republicans deserting Trump, who thinks the “fix” for Social Security is to repeal taxes on Social Security benefits. Trump’s fix will not save Social Security. In fact, quite the opposite. Without the revenue from Social Security taxes, the Social Security trust fund will run out of money even sooner.
I’m encouraged by what looks like the start of a Republican turnaround on this. Not only are Republicans deserting Trump, but they’re beginning — just beginning — to become sensitive to what average voters need and want.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, the reason Social Security is running out of money is not because so many boomers are retiring.
The Social Security trustees anticipated the boom in boomer retirements. This is why Social Security was amended back in 1983, to gradually increase the age for collecting full retirement benefits from 65 to 67. That change is helping finance the boomers’ retirement.
The real reason Social Security is running out of money is something the trustees never anticipated: how much of the nation’s total income is going to the top.
A big part of the American working population today is earning less than the Social Security trustees anticipated years ago — reducing revenue flowing into the program.
Had the pay of American workers kept up with the trend decades ago — as well as their growing productivity — their Social Security payments would have kept the program flush.
But a much larger chunk of the nation’s total income is now going to the top compared to decades ago.
Yet income subject to the Social Security payroll tax is capped. No dollar of earnings above the cap is taxed. The cap in 2026 is $184,500.
So, as the rich have become far richer, more and more of the nation’s total income has escaped the Social Security payroll tax.
A CEO earning $20 million a year pays Social Security taxes on roughly 1 percent of their income, while a worker earning under the cap pays Social Security taxes on 100 percent of their income.
They both end up paying the same amount of money into the program. This isn’t fair.
The rise in the amount of income above the cap due to inequality has cost the Social Security Trust Fund reserve more than $1.4 trillion since 1983.
The solution is obvious: scrap the cap and make the rich pay more in Social Security taxes.
One plan introduced by Democrats in Congress would eliminate the cap on earnings over $250,000 and also subject investment income to Social Security taxes.
It’s estimated that this would extend the solvency of Social Security for the next 75 years without raising taxes on 93 percent of American households.
Bottom line: Trump’s plan will destroy Social Security.
The Democrats’ plan will save it — and do so fairly. Remarkably, Republicans are coming around to this plan.
If we want to ensure Social Security’s long-term future, and that working people can retire with dignity, we must make the wealthy pay their fair share.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Trump Will Spend His PAC Money To Support His Favorite Politician
Robert Reich tells us the politician Donald Trump will spend his PAC money to support:
With the midterm races officially beginning this week, a big question hanging over the Republican Party is how Trump will allocate his giant stash of super PAC money. As of July 31, MAGA Inc. had more than $400 million on hand, larger than the cash reserves of any of the major party committees.
But he’s barely spent any of it yet. Why not?
Is he waiting to see where his stash can do the most good for Republicans during the peak campaign season?
I doubt it. He’s already missed the chance to lock in airtime at lower advance rates and define candidates before attitudes harden.
Is he using the stash as a means of silencing criticism in the Republican ranks or holding back support until a candidate lavishes praise on him?
Also doubtful. Republican candidates who believe they need to criticize his war or his economic policies to stay viable won’t restrain themselves because of his possible campaign cash.
Maybe he’s conserving the money to discipline Republican candidates in the 2028 primaries and general election, when he’ll use the stash to penalize disloyalty and reward loyalty?
Possibly, but he’s already practically a lame duck.
Is he conserving the cash to pass it on to his chosen presidential successor — Vance or Rubio or a third selection as yet unknown?
Probably not. That’s a long way off.
None of these theories holds water because they don’t figure in Trump’s towering malignant narcissism.
I think he’ll be putting the money behind his favorite politician — the person he most admires, who represents everything he believes in, who he considers the single most important and talented living person in the entire flaming firmament of the known universe.
Himself.
He’s going to use his campaign cash to make himself look good, or at least far better than he looks now. Multiple public and private polls show Trump’s approval rating now mired in the mid-30 percent range — at or near historic lows for a president facing a midterm election.
So he’ll launch a campaign to regain the adulation he’s lost, to recast himself as the hero he believes he is, to reclaim the mantle of savior to which he thinks he’s entitled.
In other words, it will be a campaign to promote, glorify, and exalt Donald J. Trump.
The nonprofit arm of Trump’s political operation, Securing American Greatness, has already spent about $1 million on its first midterm ads set to air nationwide, featuring video clips of Trump talking about tax breaks in his domestic spending legislation and lower prices for eggs and prescription drugs.
In early August, according to The Atlantic, Trump told advisers they should follow the same strategy as the Democrats — making the election all about him.
But as Karl Rove, who was senior adviser and deputy chief of staff for George W. Bush, notes in The Wall Street Journal, given how unpopular Trump is, making the election even more about him only helps the Democrats.
Trump also plans to travel all over the country to hold rallies like he did during his presidential elections. Fox News’s senior White House correspondent, Peter Doocy, reports hearing “whispers of a ton of Trump travel in October, possibly as much as a Trump rally a day” in competitive states and districts.
It begins this week when Trump hosts an unprecedented midterm party convention in Dallas, centering on his accomplishments. From there, he’ll head all over America, campaigning like mad — for himself.
Rove warns: “Trump is never disciplined. He’ll have no script, saying whatever comes to mind. His crazy comments will dominate the news, locally and nationally. Republican candidates will constantly have to fend off questions about whether they agree with his latest insult or half-baked idea. The narrative won’t be on anything positive about them or the GOP.”
Presumably this is why some battleground Republicans told Trump’s staff that they’d prefer he not visit their districts ahead of November, according to Republican operatives involved in the conversations, as reported by Politico. Meanwhile, Republican pollsters have told candidates in tight races to limit their references to him.
Rove and other Republican functionaries are urging Trump to “act more presidential” by using his vast super PAC funds to support Republican candidates rather than finance a campaign about himself.
But they’re yelling into the wind of Trump’s ballroom-sized ego.
Such is Trump’s epic narcissism that he’ll dedicate the next two months to promoting himself rather than Republican candidates. Then he’ll treat a Republican defeat on November 3 not as a repudiation but as a compliment — saying they lost because he wasn’t on the ticket.
As almost everyone in the world knows by now, Trump cares only about himself. That’s been his MO forever.
Bad news for Republicans in the midterms, good news for Democrats, a continuing catastrophe for America.
Tuesday, September 08, 2026
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)