U.S. Voters Don't Approve Of Trump's Agenda

The chart above reflects the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between August 15th and 18th of a nationwide sample of 1,408 registered voters, with a 3.2 point margin of error. 

New Poll Shows Trump Doesn't Have The "Mandate" He Claims

 

The charts above are from the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between February 9th and 11th of a nationwide sample of 1,595 adults, with a 3.4 point margin of error.

Voters Don't Approve Of All Of Trump's Agenda

 

The charts above reflects the results of the Quinnipiac University Poll -- done between January 23rd and 27th of a nationwide sample of 1,019 registered voters, with a 3.1 point margin of error.

Voters Oppose Much Of Trump's Agenda

 The chart above reflects the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between January 26th and 28th of a nationwide sample of 1,376 registered voters, with a 3.3 point margin of error.

Most Voters Oppose These Five Trump Agenda Items

 

These charts reflect the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between December 8th and 10th of a nationwide sample of 1,415 registered voters, with a 3.3 point margin of error.

What To Expect In the Dark Two Years Ahead

Donald Trump was not able to do a lot of what he wanted during his first term in office. But don't expect the same in his second term. He has a Republican controlled Congress, a compliant Supreme Court (that granted him immunity), and will make sure to only appoint sycophants to his staff and cabinet. He has a situation in which he can do whatever he wants.

He will try to massively deport millions of nonwhite undocumented immigrants.

He has to follow through on this. He has promised it too many times to his xenophobic base. But he (and his cult) don't realize the problems inherent in this. It will be very difficult (and tear apart families). It will be very expensive - costing hundreds of billions. And it will have a negative effect on taxation, the job market, and the economy.

He will reauthorize the tax cuts he passed during his first term.

He will try to sell it as a benefit to all Americans, but 82% will go to the top 1%. It will also add trillions of dollars to the national debt. That's OK with Republicans though. They only care about the national debt when a Democratic is in the White House.

He will make global climate change much worse.

He still claims global warming is a hoax. He will again withdraw from the Paris Accords, and will undo the regulations in place to control the climate change. 

He will instruct GOP senators to do away with the filibuster.

This is the only option left for Democrats to block much of the Trump/GOP agenda. And the first time they use it to block something he wants, he will ask MAGA senators to do away with it - and they might well comply with his wishes.

He will make sure there is no progress in re-establishing reproductive freedom for women.

Republicans are now convinced that banning abortion didn't hurt them in the election. They will likely try to nationally ban the abortion pill (mifepristone and misoprostol). Women will continue to die because doctors are afraid to give them reproductive care when problems occur.

He will stop most (or all) military aid to Ukraine.

Trump loves Putin and hates Ukraine. He wants to force Ukraine to agree to a peace with Russia controlling and annexing eastern Ukraine. He also will not allow Ukraine to join NATO - and may even withdraw from NATO. He is also likely to remove the sanctions against Russia.

He will seek retribution against his political enemies.

He will appoint a yes-man to be Attorney General, and then instruct them to go after his political enemies. Anyone with skeletons in their closet is in deep trouble, and even though without will have to pay a ton to hire good lawyers to protect them. 

He will deregulate Corporations and financial institutions.

Giant corporate mergers, price-fixing, and abuse of consumers will be rampant. Expect Congress to disband the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Those are just the things he will surely do. It could get much worse. There are no guardrails to prevent it. 

Trump's Real Agenda Boils Down To Only Two Selfish Things

Donald Trump is campaigning on two major issues - immigration and inflation. Both of those are false issues!

Trump has said he would deport the 11 or 12 million undocumented immigrants living and working in the United States. That would be a logistical nightmare, and he knows it. And it's doubtful that his business buddies would allow him to do it, since it could wreck many industries that count on those immigrants to survive (like the meat industry). Heck, Trump even uses those immigrants to build (to avoid having to pay decent wages).

And his economic plan would not decrease inflation. The only thing he has proposed is to put tariffs of 10% to 60% on foreign goods entering the United States. That would not decrease inflation - it would increase it by making those goods more expensive for consumers to buy!

So, what is his real agenda? The only two things Trump really wants to do is decrease his own taxes (and those of his billionaire buddies and to stay out of jail.

He has said he wants to extend the tax cuts he got passed in his first term (82% of which went to the rich and super-rich). These are the only people in the country that don't need a tax cut - and it would add trillions more to the national debt.

But perhaps the most important thing he wants is to stay out of jail. He is unlikely to get a prison sentence for his New York conviction of 34 counts, but a prison sentence is very possible in the federal counts he faces and in the Georgia case. 

If he was elected, he would appoint a sycophant as Attorney General and the federal counts would disappear. And the Georgia case would be unlikely to proceed while he was president.

While Trump is campaigning on false issues, his real agenda is a selfish one.

Biden May Nor Be Popular But His Policies Are

The following is part of an op-ed by Catherine Rampell in The Washington Post: 

President Biden’s policy agenda is incredibly popular, much more popular than his opponent’s. But Biden the man? Not so much. . . .

Democrats have long argued that their policies are more popular than those of Republicans. In a recent blind test conducted by YouGov, that was unmistakably true. The polling organization asked Americans what they thought about major policies proposed by Biden and Donald Trump without specifying who proposed them. The idea was to see how the public perceived ideas when stripped of tribal associations.

Biden’s agenda was the winner, hands down.

Of the 28 Biden proposals YouGov asked about, 27 were supported by more people than opposed them. Impressively, 24 received support from more than 50 percent of respondents.

The most popular Biden policy proposal is requiring criminal and mental background checks for all gun purchases. This idea was favored by 82 percent of respondents — including 70 percent of voters who self-identified as Trump supporters. Biden’s least popular idea — the only one of the 28 that was underwater — was a pledge of 10 years of U.S. military support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. (Only 30 percent liked this.)

Trump’s policies, on the other hand, fare much worse. Of 28 major proposals YouGov asked about, only nine received at least plurality support (more people supported than opposed them). Even more damning, just six were favored by a majority of respondents.

Trump’s most popular idea was phasing out imports of essential goods from China over the next four years, at 59 percent approval. The least popular was to give presidents control over independent regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission. Only 19 percent supported the proposal, including just 27 percent of self-identified Trump supporters.

The contrast between the favorability of the rivals’ agendas is particularly striking when put side by side. Some of Trump’s mostpopular policies are about as well-liked as Biden’s least popular ones.

Trump Makes No Secret Of His Terrible Agenda

Donald Trump wants to do some really bad things if he is re-elected. Axios.com points outs the ten most worrying things from Trump's interview with Time Magazine:

GOP Agenda - Help The Rich And Hurt Everyone Else

I can understand why the rich would vote for Republicans. It seems like everything Republicans want to do would benefit the rich (and corporations. But I honestly don't know why anyone who is not rich would vote Republican.

Why do I say that? Just consider their agenda!

If Republicans gain power, they will make sure that the minimum wage stays at $7.25 an hour. That may make businesses happy, because they could pay $8 or $9 and pose as being "generous". But the truth is that it would take at least $15 an hour for a person (and especially a family) to live decently in our society. Anything less just keeps hard-working people in poverty -- and no one who works hard for 40 hours a week should be forced to live in poverty.

Republicans would stop the government from negotiating drug prices. That is Ok for the rich because they can afford high drug prices, but millions of Americans can't. Too many are already doing without medical treatment because they can't afford it (including many who have health insurance). Republicans don't want to lower the costs of drugs or any kind of medical treatment. They don't think people have a right to health care. For them, health care is just a product to be sold to those who can afford it.

Republicans oppose worker unions. They want to make it harder for workers to unionize, and make unions weaker. The corporations love this, because that gives them total power to keep wages low and working conditions poor (or even dangerous). But workers need unions to have any bargaining power at all.

Republicans want to cut Social Security. They would raise the age to receive it to 70. That's fine if you are rich and don't need it. But millions of Americans do actual physical labor, and they are doing good to reach the current age of 66 before their bodies give out. Raising the age would just rob them of four years of decent living. Other types of cuts will just force those relying only on Social Security to sink back into poverty.

Republicans want a nationwide ban on abortion. This not only takes the right of a woman to control her own body away, but places the lives of women with troubled pregnancies at risk. Of course the rich don't care, because they can fly wherever they want to get an abortion.

Republicans still talk about cutting taxes. But it's not for you. Look at their last tax cut -- about 82% of the cuts went to the richest Americans (and corporations). Everyone else got very little (or nothing).

Republicans say they want to cut the deficit. But they don't want to tax the rich to do it. They want to cut the programs that help the poor and disadvantaged -- the people who need government help the most.

If you are rich, and don't care about your fellow Americans, then voting for Republicans might be understandable. But otherwise, you would just be voting against your own interests to vote Republican!

Trump Has Laid Out A Fascist Agenda For His Second Term

 The following post is by Sophia Can at Axios.com:

Former President Trump's second-term governing plans are coming into clearer focus, as he lays out a vision for a dramatic expansion of federal power — particularly the presidency. 

Why it matters: In public statements, videos and posts on his campaign's website, Trump complains about Washington's "swamp" — but lays out a plan that would give him, as president, more control of virtually every facet of life in America.

Zoom in: Trump's plans go well beyond the provocative promises he made during his recent CNN town hall — to pardon nearly all of the convicted Jan. 6 rioters (there have been about 500), and to immediately broker an end the war in Ukraine.

• Such pardons would effectively nullify what Attorney General Merrick Garland has called the Justice Department's most far-reaching and important investigation in its history.
• Trump's comments on Ukraine were in line with his opposition to continued military aide to help that nation resist Russia's invasion.

Those moves would be extremely controversial, but generally within a president's authority. Much of Trump's agenda, however, would represent an unprecedented power grab by the executive branch — driven by far-right conservatism and Trump's grievances.

• Federal workforce:  He wants to give the president the authority to hire and fire federal workers at will — not a new idea, but now part of a broad effort to "clean out" investigators and officials he sees as disloyal or who have questioned his conduct.
• Education: As part of a sweeping plan for the federal government to exert more control of education, Trump wants to fire "radical left" officials who accredit universities, reward schools that abolish tenure for teachers, eliminate many college administrators and remove diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
• Law enforcement/intelligence: Trump — who's facing a range of criminal charges — said after he was indicted in New York that he wanted to "defund" the Justice Department and the FBI. That might have been an exaggeration, but Trump does want his brand of politics to reshape the Justice Department and U.S. intelligence.
• He's vowing to get rid of "Marxist prosecutors " and create an auditing system to monitor U.S. intelligence agencies “to ensure they are not spying on our citizens." 
• Gender issues: He wants DOJ to investigate Big Pharma and the big hospital networks to determine whether they have "deliberately covered up the long-term side-effects of 'sex transitions.'" He also wants to boot hospitals or providers from Medicaid and Medicare if they offer gender-affirming care.
• Crime: Trump wants to use the U.S. military to go after drug cartels and street crime.

• Housing: He wants to eliminate an Obama-era rule that requires cities and local governments to address residential segregation and poverty in order to receive federal housing grants.
• Cities/housing: His “quantum leap to revolutionize the American standard of living” includes baby bonuses to create a new baby boom and the design of 10 new “Freedom Cities” in the U.S.
• Guns: Trump wants national concealed carry reciprocity, which would allow people with a concealed carry permit in their home state to have that privilege in any other state.

The intrigue: Trump has taken credit for the Supreme Court overturning abortion rights under Roe v. Wade, a decision made possible by three Trump-appointed justices. 

• But he hasn't said whether he'd sign a federal abortion ban — as many conservatives want — or embrace a law like Florida's ban after six weeks of pregnancy, one of the nation's strictest abortion laws. It was pushed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump's chief rival for the GOP nomination.
• Trump has said abortion is a "losing issue" for conservative Republicans — but he still wants their votes.

Reality check: Many of Trump's ideas are outlined in broad strokes, without details of how they'd be implemented or funded.

What they're saying: "What Trump is proposing for 2025 ... is the trappings of a democracy. ... But it's a Potemkin village," said Norman Ornstein, an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

The Four "Freedoms" That Republicans Are Supporting

The following is just a tiny portion of an excellent op-ed by Jamelle Bouie in The New York Times:

In his 1941 State of the Union address, Franklin Roosevelt said there was “nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy” and that he, along with the nation, looked forward to “a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.” Famously, those freedoms were the “freedom of speech and expression,” the “freedom of every person to worship God in his own way,” the “freedom from want” and the “freedom from fear. Those freedoms were the guiding lights of his New Deal, and they remained the guiding lights of his administration through the trials of World War II.

There are, I think, four freedoms we can glean from the Republican program.

There is the freedom to control — to restrict the bodily autonomy of women and repress the existence of anyone who does not conform to traditional gender roles.

There is the freedom to exploit — to allow the owners of business and capital to weaken labor and take advantage of workers as they see fit.

There is the freedom to censor — to suppress ideas that challenge and threaten the ideologies of the ruling class.

And there is the freedom to menace — to carry weapons wherever you please, to brandish them in public, to turn the right of self-defense into a right to threaten other people.

Roosevelt’s four freedoms were the building blocks of a humane society — a social democratic aspiration for egalitarians then and now. These Republican freedoms are also building blocks not of a humane society but of a rigid and hierarchical one, in which you can either dominate or be dominated.

Public Opposes Most Of The DeSantis Agenda

This chart is from a Yahoo / YouGov Poll -- done between March 16th and 20th of a nationwide sample of 1,582 adults, with a 2.7 point margin of error.
 

Republicans Are Telling Us Their Agenda - And It's Not Good

Republicans have revealed their agenda if given power, but it would not build a better country. Here's what Jennifer Rubin says about this GOP agenda in The Washington Post:

Republicans have already indicated what they would do if they control one of both houses of Congress after the midterm elections. And it’s terrifying.

Of most concern is the resistance from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) toward additional military aid to Ukraine. He toldPunchbowl News during a recent interview, “I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession, and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine,” he said. “They just won’t do it.” He added, “Then there’s the things [the Biden administration] is not doing domestically. Not doing the border and people begin to weigh that. Ukraine is important, but at the same time it can’t be the only thing they do and it can’t be a blank check.”

Such a proclamation must be encouraging for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, whose invasion strategy rests on the assumption that the will of Ukraine’s Western allies will weaken, allowing Russian forces to grind the neighboring nation into submission. President Biden has spent nearly a year showing that the West will not bend. Now, with McCarthy’s typical recklessness in indulging MAGA isolationists, he is offering hope to Putin that if the Russian leader sticks to his war plan — built on human rights atrocities and Iranian weaponry — he might prevail.

McCarthy’s comment will also likely shake European allies who worry about their own economic pain and fear that the United States might leave them dangling. It could also encourage Putin’s toadies in European capitals.

During the Cold War, buffoons who made similar Soviet-friendly comments earned the label “useful idiots.” It seems the Kremlin still counts on such people.

This is only one item on the MAGA crowd’s agenda. While many GOP candidates are trying to downplay or change their extreme views, it is clear there is widespread support for impeaching Biden, as Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), the No. 3 House Republican, recently reiterated. Others have proposed a nationwide abortion ban; repealing the Affordable Care Act and prescription drug cost-containment measures; and sunsetting entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Plus, if the Senate goes Republican, you can forget about the confirmation of judges and executive branch appointees. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) hasn’t hesitated to stymie past Democratic presidents. Even if he were inclined to be more reasonable (i.e., acknowledge an elected Democratic president should be able to govern), many in his party are willing to thwart virtually any of Biden’s appointments. And the Republican caucus would even more crazed if Herschel Walker, J.D. Vance, Blake Masters and the rest of the Trump-backed loonies win their Senate races.

Ah, you might say, Republicans would fail to push forward terrible policies, because they would draw presidential vetoes. But listen to what Republicans say they are prepared to do to get their way.

McCarthy is already refusing to “predetermine” what he might do in a face-off over the debt ceiling. And if he is willing to risk the full faith and credit of the United States in his battle to decimate the federal government, thereby plunging markets into chaos, then there is no question he’d be willing to shut down the government. (Republicans have already done this, in 2013 and 2018.)

Even if by some stroke of magic McCarthy were to be develop some common sense, the rest of his caucus would likely run right over him to paralyze the government. Biden and Senate Democrats might be able to prevent Republicans from repealing every scrap of legislation passed in the last two years, but they cannot force them to sustain aid to Ukraine or act in the interest of a functional government. Voters need to be clear-eyed about what is in store if even one chamber goes to Republican control.

Some voters, no doubt, understand that the GOP’s agenda is radical, but want to grant Republicans power as a check against Democrats and expect others in the party to restrain the crazies. Such magical thinking forgets the lessons of the 2016 election: Many voters cast ballots for the narcissistic and clearly unfit Donald Trump, confident that other Republicans would “restrain” him if elected. It didn’t work out.

Voters who are willing to vote for Republicans because “they won’t accomplish anything anyway!” should consider how deeply the GOP can harm the country, our allies and global democracy. Indeed, they are not even waiting to be elected before wreaking havoc.

The Real Republican Agenda Is A Horror Show

Republicans hope they can win in November by blaming inflation on Democrats. But most Americans would be horrified if they knew about the real Republican agenda. The following op-ed is by Steve Benen at MSNBC.com: 

It’s not unusual for White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to offer public criticism of Republican ideas, but yesterday, President Joe Biden’s chief spokesperson targeted a specific proposal that hasn’t generated a lot of attention.

“The Republican Study Committee, which includes most House Republicans, endorses cutting Medicare and Social Security benefits,” Jean-Pierre said in a tweet.

For much of the public, which is probably unfamiliar with the Republican Study Committee, the missive may not have had much of an impact, but the press secretary’s point warrants some additional attention.

About a half-century ago, when there were still plenty of moderate and even liberal Republicans, a group of conservative lawmakers created the Republican Study Committee as a home exclusively for House members on the right. In the years that followed, as centrist Republicans became an endangered species, the Republican Study Committee became one of Congress’ largest caucuses — to the point that roughly three out of four House GOP members have joined the contingent.

With this in mind, when the Republican Study Committee releases a budget plan, it represents the views and priorities of most of the House GOP. And as Mother Jones reported, the ideneWhite House is right to be concerned about what these Republicans have proposed.

A little-noticed budget document, the Blueprint to Save America, released in June by the Republican Study Committee, details the group’s priorities.... The 122-page manifesto, containing a laundry list of longstanding conservative desires, calls for significantly reducing the size of America’s social safety net, drastically limiting abortion access nationwide, effectively throwing in the towel on combatting climate change, raising the age requirement to receive full Social Security benefits, cracking down on transgender rights, and making it easier for Americans to carry concealed weapons.

Jean-Pierre included a link to the budget blueprint in her tweet, which was a good idea: This is a publicly available document that voters probably ought to be aware of.

It’s difficult to summarize a 122-page plan, but these House Republicans made little effort to curtail their ambitions. If the Republican Study Committee’s plan were implemented, Social Security and Medicare would be partially privatized, food stamps would be slashed, Head Start would be phased out, Medicaid funding would be decimated, the Affordable Care Act would be weakened, labor unions would be undermined, the EPA would be gutted, abortion would be banned, birthright citizenship would be eliminated, Donald Trump’s border wall would be funded, and even the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would see its doors permanently closed.

The point, of course, isn’t that such a plan will be implemented anytime soon. There’s a Democratic majority in Congress, which won’t consider any of these regressive ideas.

Rather, the point is that the Republican Study Committee, representing 75 percent of the overall House Republican conference, not only endorses these ideas, they put these ideas in writing and released them as the members’ official budget plan.

What’s more, they might not be in the minority for much longer.

The House Budget Committee’s Democratic chairman, Kentucky’s John Yarmuth told Mother Jones that the document reflects how a GOP-led House would govern. “The new members [Republicans] get if they unseat our members and take our open seats are going to be even more conservative than the people who put this together,” Yarmuth argued. “I think this would be exactly the blueprint that they would try to adopt.”

There’s also, of course, an electoral dimension to this: By some measures, the Republican Study Committee has 157 members. Are they prepared to run for re-election while defending this radical policy blueprint?