Public Says History Will Not Be Kind To Donald Trump

The chart reflects the results of a new Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between December 22nd and 24th of 1,500 adults nationwide (including 1,240 registered voters). The margin of error for both adults and registered voters is 2.9 points.

Note that every demographic group has more people saying Trump's administration will be considered below average that average or above average. In other words, history will not regard him as being a good president.

Trump Lies

Political Cartoon is by Monte Wolverton at Caglecartoons.com.

Germans Fear Trump More Than World's Worst Dictators

This chart should trouble all Americans. The YouGov Poll asked 2,000 German citizens which world leaders they feared the most. Donald Trump won hands down. About 41% of Germans feared Trump the most. In fact, more feared Trump than the other four (all dictators) combined.

This is from a country that for the last few decades has been one of the best allies of the United States. It shows how much Trump has damaged this country, when Trump is feared more than the leaders of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.

We MUST vote him out of office next November!

From One Dumpster Fire To Another

Political Cartoon is by Clay Jones at claytoonz.com.

We Must Take Control Of Government Back From The Rich

The cartoon above is by Tom Toles in The Washington Post. It describes the economic situation in this country pretty well. The rich, with the help of Republicans, control our government. And they have been able to tilt the economic playing field to their advantage. Democrats are trying to change those economic rules to make them fairer for all American citizens -- but that has resulted in charges that they are too far to the left (socialists). It's not true. None of the major Democratic candidates are truly socialists -- not even Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. They are all capitalists, but think that capitalism needs rules to prevent the abuse of workers and consumers.

Here's how Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman describes it in his New York Times column:

The first thing you need to know about the very rich is that they are, politically, different from you and me. Don’t be fooled by the handful of prominent liberal or liberal-ish billionaires; systematic studies of the politics of the ultrawealthy show that they are very conservative, obsessed with tax cuts, opposed to environmental and financial regulation, eager to cut social programs.

The second thing you need to know is that the rich often get what they want, even when most of the public want the opposite. For example, a vast majority of voters — including a majority of self-identified Republicans — believe that corporations pay too little in taxes. Yet the signature domestic policy of the Trump administration was a huge corporate tax cut. . . .

Why do a small number of rich people exert so much influence in what is supposed to be a democracy? Campaign contributions are only part of the story. Equally if not more important is the network of billionaire-financed think tanks, lobbying groups and so on that shapes public discourse. And then there’s the revolving door: It’s depressingly normal for former officials from both parties to take jobs with big banks, corporations and consulting firms, and the prospect of such employment can’t help but influence policy while they’re still in office.

Last but not least, media coverage of policy issues all too often seems to reflect the views of the wealthy. Take, for example, the issue of policies to combat unemployment.

Unemployment in the United States is currently at a historical low, just 3.5 percent — and we’re achieving that low unemployment without any sign of runaway inflation, which tells us that we were capable of this kind of performance all along. Remember when people like Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, told us that high unemployment was inevitable because of a “skills gap”? They were wrong.

But it took us a very long time to get here, because unemploymentreceded only slowly from its post-crisis peak. The average unemployment rate over the past decade was 6.3 percent, which translates into millions of person-years of gratuitous joblessness.

Why didn’t we recover faster? The most important reason was fiscal austerity — spending cuts, supposedly to reduce the budget deficit, that exerted a steady drag on the economy from 2010 onward. But who was obsessed with budget deficits? Voters in general weren’t — but surveys indicate that even when the unemployment rate was above 8 percent the wealthy considered budget deficits a bigger problem than lack of jobs.

And the news media echoed these priorities, treating them not as the preferences of one small group of voters but as the only responsible position. As Vox’s Ezra Klein noted at the time, when it came to budget deficits it seemed that “the usual rules of reportorial neutrality” didn’t apply; reporters openly advocated policy views that were at best controversial, not widely shared by the general public and, we now know, substantively wrong.

But they were the policy views of the wealthy. And when it comes to treatment of differing policy views, the media often treats some Americans as more equal than others. . . .

You may disagree with progressive ideas coming from Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, which is fine. But the news media owes the public a serious discussion of these ideas, not dismissal shaped by a combination of reflexive “centrist bias” and the conscious or unconscious assumption that any policy rich people dislike must be irresponsible.

And when candidates talk about the excessive influence of the wealthy, that subject also deserves serious discussion, not the cheap shots we’ve been seeing lately. I know that this kind of discussion makes many journalists uncomfortable. That’s exactly why we need to have it.

Unhinged

Political Cartoon is by Mike Smith in the Las Vegas Sun.

Incompetent Narcissist

Anais Nin

Public Says U.S. Lost More Respect In The World In 2019

The chart above reflects the results of the new Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between December 22nd and 24th of a national sample of 1,500 adults (including 1,240 registered voters). The margin of error for both adults and registered voters is 2.9 points.

Thanks to the ridiculous antics of Donald Trump, the U.S. lost a lot of respect in the eyes of the world in 2017 and 2018. The American public says overwhelmingly that the loss of respect continued in 2019.

Bribery

Political Cartoon is by Adam Zyglis in The Buffalo News.

5 Ways Trump Damaged The Environment In 2019

(This caricature of Donald Trump is by the inimitable DonkeyHotey.)

Donald Trump brags about the environmental record of his administration. He wants people to believe he is not damaging the environment. He is LYING!

Here, from Emma Newburger at cnbc.com, are five ways in which Trump seriously damaged our environment in 2019:

1. Regulations on methane leaks to be rolled back

The Trump administration in August announced plans to significantly weaken regulation on climate-changing methane emissions. If adopted, the government would no longer have to require oil and gas companies to implement technology to monitor and fix methane leaks from facilities and pipelines. The rule would also open debate on whether the Environmental Protection Agency can regulate methane as a pollutant.

Methane is dangerous because large amounts of it is escaping from oil and gas sites across the country and accelerating global warming. Methane levels have soared since 2007, with natural gas production as a primary suspect.

2. Repealing the Obama-era clean water rule

The EPA in September repealed a major Obama-era clean water regulation that curbed the amount of pollution and chemicals in the country’s rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands.

The repeal allows polluters to discharge toxic substances into waterways without a permit, which could significantly harm the country’s sources of safe drinking water and habitats for wildlife. The Obama-era rule had aimed to protect 60% of the country’s water bodies from contamination and keep drinking water safe for about one-third of the country.

3. Weakening the Endangered Species Act

The Trump administration said in August it would change the rules for the Endangered Species Act, making it harder to protect wildlife from threats of human development and global warming.

The new rules make it easier to take out protections for threatened animals and plants and allow federal agencies to conduct economic assessments when deciding whether to protect a species from things like construction projects in a critical habitat. The rules also remove tools used by scientists to predict future harm to species from climate change.

4. Weakening climate plan to help coal plants stay open

The Trump administration in June implemented a rule that will keep coal-powered plants open longer, replacing an Obama-era climate effort to reduce planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions and continuing the administration’s efforts to ease regulatory burdens for the coal industry.

The so-called Affordable Clean Energy rule gives states more power to decide how to control emissions and less authority to the federal government in setting emissions standards. One of the administration’s goals is to allow coal power plants a chance to remain in business despite the rise in other forms of energy generation such as natural gas and solar.

5. Loosening Obama-era rules restricting auto pollution

The White House this year also prepared to eliminate an Obama-era regulation in place to reduce automobile emissions that contribute to global warming. The administration argues that the rollback is necessary for economic and safety reasons, though environmentalists say consumers would spend billions more in fuel costs and accelerate climate change.

Fortunate Cookies

Political Cartoon is by Matt Wuerker at Politico.com.

No Shame - No Spine - No Integrity

Truth