Saturday, April 11, 2026
Voters Say The Wealth Gap Is Too Large And Taxes Are Too Low For Billionaires
The charts above reflect the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between April 3rd and 6th of a nationwide sample of 1,560 registered voters, with a 3 point margin of error.
Why Did Melania Make Her Speech About Epstein?
On Thursday, Melania Trump gave a six minute (and very self-serving) speech in which she denied being friends with Epstein or his girlfriend (Ghislaine Maxwell) - in spite of the many photos of her with both. I doubt that anyone but die-hard MAGA cult members believed her.
She also called on Congress to question Epstein's victims under oath. But she did not offer to testify under oath herself, or ask that her husband be questioned under oath. She also did NOT demand the release of all the Epstein files.
It seems that the only thing she accomplished with her strange speech was to put the Epstein scandal back on the from pages - something her husband had been trying to prevent.
The question now - Why did she make that speech?
Here is some of what Robert Reich had to say on that question:
Why did Melania Trump hold a news conference today? Standing at a lectern in the Grand Foyer of the White House, the first lady labeled as “lies” unspecified allegations linking her to Epstein, and said they “need to end today.”. . .
But who’s even been thinking about Melania and her potential relationship with Epstein or Maxwell in the midst of Melania’s husband’s threat to obliterate 90 million Iranians? Who cares about Melania and Maxwell when the price of gas is through the roof? Why would anyone be interested in such “unspecified allegations” when Iran still possesses 970 pounds of highly-enriched uranium and now has more motive than ever to turn it into nuclear weapons?
Besides, there hasn’t been the faintest whiff of scandal about the relationship between Melania and Maxwell, let alone Epstein. . . .
Why, then, did Melania hold today’s news conference?
I can think of three possible reasons:
1. She was urged to do it as a way to revive interest in the Epstein scandal. You heard me right. The White House figures that Epstein is easier to handle right now than the fallout from the catastrophe of Trump’s war in Iran. Plus, Pam Bondi is gone and won’t be testifying, and the emerging regime at the Justice Department — Todd Blanche and Harmeet Dhillon — can more reliably be counted on to bury anything in the Epstein files that might incriminate Trump. In other words, a great way to change the subject.
2. Amazon is now in negotiations over streaming rights to Melania’s 2026 documentary Melania, which has been a box office bomb, grossing only $16.6 million worldwide against a massive $40 million production budget and $35 million in marketing, and leaving Amazon with a significant financial loss. Amazon and Bezos urged Melania to stir up publicity for herself, and what better way to get attention than to deny any relationship with Epstein?
3. Melania is pissed off at Trump for any number of things, and today’s news conference was a way of letting him know she’s capable of making his life miserable.
Friday, April 10, 2026
Most Americans Support An Additional Tax On Income Over $1 Million
The chart above reflects the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between April 3rd and 6th of a nationwide sample of 1,750 adults (including 1,560 registered voters). The margin of error is 3.2 points for adults and 3.0 points for registered voters.
Voters Think Trump And GOP Are Focusing On The Wrong Priorities
The charts above are from the Navigator Poll -- done between April 2nd and 6th of a nationwide sample of 1,000 registered voters, with a 3.1 point margin of error.
Trump Promised To Create New High-Paying Jobs - He Has Failed Miserably
When he was campaigning for a second term, Donald Trump made many job promises. He said his policies would create millions of new and high-paying jobs - and he said those jobs would go to American citizens. It has not happened.
The creation of new jobs in theist few months has been close to zero, and the few jobs created have not been high-paying manufacturing jobs. In fact, there are fewer manufacturing jobs now than when he took office.
In addition, the unemployment rate for U.S. born workers has risen. He had promised that his deportation plans would create new jobs for Americans. It has NOT!
What went wrong? It is the policies he has enacted. Those policies have depressed job creation instead of enhancing it. Two of the worst policies have been his tariffs and his immigration policy.
The tariffs have increased the cost of doing business, and that has caused businesses to cut back on hiring because they don't know what the economy is going to do. As prices rise, many Americans have cut back on spending.
Trump said he would be deporting criminal elements in the undocumented population. No one disagreed with that, but that's not what happened. Most of the people his ICE goons are capturing to deport are honest, hardworking people who fill jobs most Americans don't want. These immigrants pay taxes (local, state, and federal) and their spending helps to boost the economy. It turns out that deporting them has actually hurt the economy.
It's easy to boast about creating new good jobs, but it requires sensible economic policies. Trump has shown he really doesn't understand economics - and the policies he has pursued have actually have the opposite effect on job creation.
NOTE - The charts above are from the website of economist Paul Krugman.
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