Real populism is governing in public interest, not a small knot of elitist governing in their self interest

Real populism is governing in the public interest and not governing in the self-interest of those rich, politically connected, and the billionaires. One form of populism is economic. Another is techbro populism. Sadly, another form is racist. All are at work in America today, and more than one might dwell in the hearts and minds of some voters at the same time.

Economic populism is an easy concept to grasp. Recent articles in the Atlantic magazine have been focusing on the influence of the techno bros, the chiefs of high-tech industries, who are the recent drivers of anti-democracy fascist like influences in the White House and pubic policy. It explains why these newly minted oligarchs love Putin, Orban, and CPAC, as their businesses flourish when government is shaped to support their economic well-being.  The only population they consider is their own and not the rest of us.  

One of the characteristics of populist movements in the past, the Tea Party, and even MAGA has always been a resentment of elites controlling their lives and making their lives, working class and even many in the middle class, economically difficult.  This is largely based on economic concerns... especially since consumers are the ones who feel the pain. 

Techbro populism is another matter. The Atlantic's recent article by George Packer fingers the culprits as those who surround and influence Trump, such as Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and others. (JD Vance is a protege of Thiel. Musk, a native of South Africa, echoes the racist and elitist makeup of fascists of the 1930's and the apartheid supporters of the last century. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/06/david-sacks-crypto-ai-venture-capital/686941/

  This new techbro populism is the polar opposite of economic populism: These techbros want a government that helps their businesses and serves their interests, led by a small group of elites who run the government to advance their self-interested goals. However, another element has been part of the techbros mantra. It is anti-elite: extreme libertarian and "keep the government out of my business." However, it has recently changed. It is a new realization that government action is okay "when it helps my business through favorable tax and administrative policies". Libertarianism is a long-held populist concept held by many. "The best government is the least government" is their frequently uttered mantra. There is a strong anti-elitist streak in its followers.  Brotech populism is self-contradictory: it is both elitist and anti-elitist at the same time.  The impact, though, is anti populist and elitist. Techbros often do not care, or may not even grasp, what it is like to be on a budget for individuals and families. 'What's a few cents if gas at the pump rises?  They just do not get the uproar.

Such governance by rich elitists contains the seed of their own eventual destruction and will eventually be brought down by those whose needs are not met, as the rich and a ruling oligarchy become richer and those whose needs are not met become poorer. A lot of time and pain have to flow under the bridge before it dawns on the masses. It certainly happened to Viktor Orban in Hungary, as popular resentment of his oligarchical and corrupt rule resulted in economic pain. It became so strong that the masses of ordinary people overcame even Orban's suppression of the free press and political gerrymandering and took to a whisper campaign, quiet organizing, and the ballot box. Orban was defeated.

A few MAGA-ers have awakened to this challenge against their own interests. It is close to how the Trump administration is operating now, a rule by the rich, characterized by those techbro s who sat directly behind Trump when he put his hands on the bible for his second term. Trump's lust for respect by accumulating power and wealth is similar to the tech bros' goals. That is Trump's peer group, only he adds just the Mar-a-Lago type, very wealthy, who never have to worry about a budget, and Putin, rumored to be the richest one in the world, who he is influenced by and influences a loyalist group of oligarchs, too. 

Why do most MAGA turn a blind eye to Trump's peer group oligarchy and his attempt to Orbanize America? They shouldn't, logic dictates. What MAGA and liberals have in common is the ability to rise up through democratically protected peaceful means, such as through the ballot box or peaceful street demonstrations.  Preservation of democracy and a government that rules in the public interest, rather than the elite wealthy, should be and are common values, even if they are not yet realized or under threat. So what else is driving much of the MAGA if not economic populism?

I have a theory based on some observations: There is another streak of populism: racist populism. I suspect it is more powerful than economic populism in deep red states.  It has been characterized by Trump's appointment of white nationalists in key administrative positions and their obsession with the destruction of DEI, the continued use of racist dog whistles, and the reaction to the recent Supreme Court decision that gutted the civil rights era Voting Rights Act. This decision, pronounced with the piety of promoting fair elections by negating protections against racial gerrymandering, has accomplished the opposite. This decision instead is opening the floodgates to racial gerrymandering as Louisiana now works to eliminate Congressional districts represented by African Americans.  Now, under the cover of the SCOTUS decision, the former slave states' white-dominated legislatures rush to redistrict before and even during the campaigns for November 2026 and 2028. The estimated result is 22 African American congresspeople losing their seats while claiming racism has nothing to do with these actions. How stupid or naive do they think Americans are? 

 Those who get it and agree with the hidden messages in the dog whistles and racist redistricting remain quiet or find some other reason to support the racist intent of their representative in state legislators. They are, in a way, part of a populist movement. They show their consent by remaining quiet or voting for redistricting that is geared to remove as many African Americans from Congress as they can. while still voicing support for their white legislators. Racism as an openly touted value is still politically incorrect, but winks and nods masked in a variety of dog whistles are right there up front, conveying it in other ways. Their silence is deafening. and actions speak louder than words. Silence says as much as anything. Silence is a form of consent.

What are dog whistles? a simple explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8_fgJQHkOc.   

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/state-redistricting-battles-intensify-following-u-s-supreme-court-ruling-on-voting-rights-act

https://apnews.com/article/trump-inauguration-tech-billionaires-zuckerberg-musk-wealth-0896bfc3f50d941d62cebc3074267ecd

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/02/white-christian-nationalism-has-taken.h

All politics is local, so national views on gerrymandering I have seen do not differentiate views based on race, but on politics.  Nonetheless, here are nationwide views. In short, most people are not well informed even on political gerrymanders.  https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/52740-large-majorities-americans-say-gerrymandering-major-problem-unfair-should-be-illegal-redistricting-texas-california-poll  

Democrats need to find a brand name of what to call themselves. Some ideas.

 Democrats have a problem.  They have not figured out what appeals to enough voters, as their approval rating as a political party sinks even lower than the GOP's, and even Trump's approval rating also begins to fall. Democrats are faced with the necessity of re-invention, re-focus, and figuring out even what to call themselves.    

Returning to Democrats of old 2024 is a loser then and a loser now. What is true is that Democrats in 2024 were so entangled in pushing back on MAGA's cultural/racial issues, they missed what was at that moment on the mind of many, the unresolved economic impact of COVID, and who got the blame for high prices and inflation. Democrats may have presented data and facts, but buried them in other matters.   Economic populism used to be in the purview of Democrats, and it took a back seat in the message Democrats promoted in their loss in 2024.  MAGA grabbed it, ran on it, and won.

 Perhaps the best approach is for Democrats to brand themselves as" the party for the (blank for now) people".  So I asked my son-in-law, a skilled mechanic and veteran, close to retirement age, what he would call himself..Just "people"?" Common man"? Ordinary person? His response? "I never thought of myself as any of those. I'm just a tired old working man."  That got a sardonic laugh from both of us.

 Whatever Democrats come up with, it should reflect what most people call themselves or identify with. If filling in the blank is such a challenge, the answer may be just leaving the blank blank and putting the issue at hand in context.  There is a clue of how to do it in Lincoln's Gettysburg address: it's for people, folks, and it is government of and by the people, too.  Lincoln's phrase "government of the people, by the people, for the people" is truly what Democrats need to repeat like a mantra. That's populism and democracy in a nutshell. Sure, Lincoln was Republican, but today's GOP has strayed so far from that,  it is unrecognizable. They have become the party of, by, and for the rich and famous, and those looking good on television. 

One I particularly like is a slogan that can motivate, proposed by the DNC vice chair, Malcom Kenyatta: making lives better. That could work and speaks to many issues and many demographics besides and including economic populism and government services.   It is a big-tent one for people and public policy issues.

 

There are some other phrases emerging that have legs, but also some drawbacks. Trump has shown the ability to retool and revise daily in response to changing polls and the stock market. However, even if Trump backs down on his tariff fiasco and supply chains right themselves, inflation will linger, and corruption will still be an issue. The federal government will fail to provide the customer services people sorely need.  Some of the issues have a time stamp, and others have some lasting advantages and weaknesses.

Below are some phrases in current use and their advantages and disadvantages. 

Economic populists (as opposed to cultural populists?) If what Democrats believe, they are the real party for the working people,  the middle class, the small business person, they certainly missed the boat getting that across in 2024. If risking to become a voice instead of an echo, should the Democrats use the term populism as the MAGA movement has?  That is not a good campaign slogan: " Democrats are more populist than MAGA is ". 

Generational changes are needed. Voices are beginning to be raised among new generations of potential leaders who see democracies as the fairest for all, and advocate economic populism that is of the kitchen table variety. The Democratic National Committee is useless as an influence on anything, as they have tied themselves up in knots over upstart younger voices. AOC is the brightest and direct voice of that new generation,  and the constant beat she supports is that she includes "all" Americans, not just a few or even just the downtrodden.  Pete Buttigieg's speech last week was more moderate, but also in that direction.  Both bring generational change and a popular agenda of kitchen table economics that Democrats cannot ignore. They are also the best communicators of the Resistance and the Democratic Party. Take them seriously. I am. 

 The Democrats have a winning message in the damage DOGE and MAGA have done to social security, Medicaid, and food/nutrition programs for kids, as well as the cost of higher education, blamed on oligarch greed at every opportunity.  Bernie Sanders (old in body, young at heart)  and AOC are on the right track, putting the blame on them. However, they ignore the contribution business makes to the economy and the importance of that sector to the economic health of the country. It is short-sighted and a turn-off to many Never Trumper moderates. We need a strong economy across the board to generate taxes, the means to pay for the AOC and Sanders' policy proposals.  There needs to be more balance between business and societal demands in order to get an even broader appeal for a regime change.. 

 There is a middle ground.  What Democrats offer is a moderating pitch to all in the business community. It is stability, a refuge from chaos,  peaceful resolution of conflicts, the ability to innovate using science,  and an independent justice/judicial system, pledged to support the rule of law based on the  Constitution.  That stability is actually priceless to American capitalism. Rule by fear and favor, corruption, and chaos harm business wherever they occur.  That is an effective moderating message Democrats could use.  It will gain even more traction if the Trump-induced recession materializes as predicted.

 There are some good approaches that have promise. Getting traction is that Democrats are not for a King. No King is a good, but too kind, alternative to the word free of the baggage of fascism, which is the technical political science word describing what many  MAGA are supporting.  But anti-King describes only what Democrats are against, not for what they are for.  The award for the best slogan of the non-partisan organizations, like 50501 and Indivisible, is the "hands off" protests, which galvanize the anger of those many kinds of people victimized by Musk's DOGE trashing and subverting of popular federal programs that serve people who need them. These are great attack approaches, but they do not answer the question: What are Democrats for, anyway?  

 How about  a party for "all of us". That may be the better way to tag Democrats, but there are limits: it cannot be the party for everyone on every issue. It is not all things to all people, and cannot be.

 Corruption is not a good thing for any of us. It is good for those who have the means to pay a corrupt politician off or pay for their re-election costs.. Hovering over all of this is the obvious and open corruption of the Trump regime that makes "transactions" with deals that benefit the Trump family as they trade on Trump's position and his name. It is also low-hanging fruit, ripe for the resistance to pick.  Corruption should be an enemy of populism, but the GOP instead either looks the other way or enables it, almost as if admiring Trump for being just a good businessman. So far, Trump's base seems unmoved by corruption charges. 

Racism is not for all of us.  The MAGA movement has cultural and racist tendencies and a disdain for democracy. If Project 2025 is still held in esteem by the MAGA side, Make America White Christian again, embracing that one is a nonstarter for Democrats. Anti-diversity, anti-inclusiveness, and anti-equity are values that Democrats cannot embrace. Bottom line.  Anti-DEI attempts to deny a fair shot to all but those they favor is throughout their Project  2025 agenda. Hint: they do not favor brown and black people, Muslims, gay people, or even women's rights. Their actions speak louder than even their words in the Heritage/Project 2025 documents. The writers of 2025 are now  Trump appointees he put in control of the hiring, firing, and sabotaging of agencies that serve the human needs of those they do not favor.

Class warfare:  Favoring the wealthy and oligarchs is not for all of us; it has never trickled down. The problem is that some of the economic goals espoused by MAGA are shared with Democratic traditions of supporting the working people and a low cost of living. MAGA has talked a good talk, but has so far failed to walk the walk...and instead, promotes policies that screw the budget conscious people, including passing tariff costs to them (Even 10% is an unnecessary price gouge). There is one that I hear frequently. Bernie, ever the democratic socialist, uses the term: working class. For sure,  Democrats are not for billionaires and oligarchs or racists, but they need to be for more than just the working class to appeal to enough to win elections.

MAGA has made it harder for ordinary people to cope with day-to-day needs. The Trump regime has already de facto erased protections for consumers and the environment from exploitative and damaging business practices. They have defunded, crippled and removed the administrative civil serice ranks that provided the day to day services people demanded.  People fought for those services through the legislative process and still pay for them through their taxes (and paid money for them via social security deductions to pay checks). The writers of 2025 are now Trump appointees he put in control of the hiring, firing, and sabotaging of agencies that serve human needs, and they are carrying out their agenda as you read this. 

 A case can be made that MAGA and the Trump regime are waging war on the "least of these" and the middle class. MAGA attacks on affordable health care, from limiting affordable access to Obamacare and Medicaid, are very unpopular,  with the pain felt most in red states.  Health care costs may be the single most important issue facing most Americans. If MAGA wins this, knocking 13K off of Medicaid,  and making health care unaffordable, to harming social security and Medicare, expect your state and local taxes to try to pick up the pieces, which is why blue state Attorney Generals are among those resisting these cuts in the courts.  There is no manna from heaven to fund these. It will still fall on taxpayers, whether federal, local, or state. The political pressure from "tired old working veterans" and others to do something will be intense.  Here are the statistics of those on Medicaid in Colorado:

https://files.kff.org/attach.../fact-sheet-medicaid-state-CO

Note: 65% of Coloradoans on Medicaid work and

In this, are the numbers getting assistance from the program by categories, like those who are kids, in nursing homes, etc.

Data for who gets food stamps (SNAP) in Colorado: 10% of the population. https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/snap_factsheet_colorado.pdf

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/who-and-why-are-on-medicaid-and-snap-in.html

 Democracy vs. Autocracy is often used as a contrast tool. It is a yawn for those unfamiliar with political science or abstract political thought. There is nothing wrong with the phrase. It is just boring. Sharpening up the verbiage is in order. Autocracy is the opposite of populism because it denies all people a voice in their governance and gives the power to one person. The MAGA pro-autocracy crowd is not populist in any sense other than they want their guy, and only their guy, to be a King. Dictatorships are OK if the dictator is "theirs".  Trumpism might be replaced by someone who is an anathema to them, as a hard swing to the left reacts to their hard swing to the far and fascist right. Those Constitutional protections of their rights just may come in handy someday. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

 Patience, what goes around will come around. Just wait, we hear. Trump has dug his own grave.  That one is a problematic gamble on a bad outcome of the Trump regime. Red flags must be raised now so that Trump will be blamed later. What is also true is that Trump has promised an economic populist agenda and, after being elected, he still promises a beautiful future. Still, he has failed to give us a realistic picture of how he will do it and whom it will benefit.. His loyal base is unmoved and is keeping the faith. He has succeeded in frightening off migrants, but how he has done it, trashing the rule of law, taking on the judiciary, ignoring court rulings and instituting cruel family separation, snatching suspects without warrants, sending them away to foreign harsh gulags even if they were not gang members, murders and rapists, etc. It is giving some with a conscience a pause. The appeal of anti-immigration has diminished a bit, and has become how to do it as well as what and why to do it. Democrats have still not come to grips with the fact that overwhelming public sentiment opposes unbridled and uncontrolled immigration. Nothing yet has stopped the Trump regime from its cruelty, racism, and attempted defiance of the Constitution and judicial rulings. How far the Trump regime may go to defy the courts is a drama in the making.. It may be something to watch, especially with Pope Leo's stance on the issue.

The resistance to the Trump economic policies is still in the "warning" mode: "Be careful what you wish", and we will be in the "I told you so"  phase later. The full impact has not even begun. The rich and the billionaires may like what he is doing. Lower living costs are still in the promise oratory, but the execution failure is becoming even clearer. Interest rates are up in the air.  US Completely Loses Perfect Credit Rating for First Time in Over a Century - Newsweek which could lead to higher interest rates and the Federal Reserve is on a wait-and-see hold.  

There is a middle ground.  What Democrats offer is a moderating pitch to all in the business community. It is stability, a refuge from chaos,  peaceful resolution of conflicts, the ability to innovate using government-developed cutting-edge science,  and an independent justice/judicial system, pledged to support the rule of law based on the  Constitution.  That stability is actually priceless to American capitalism. It is an effective moderating message Democrats could use.  It will gain even more traction if the Trump-induced recession materializes as predicted. Trump's promises are empty when it comes to caring about the core economic populist promises, and some of his voters are losing patience with believing that he will ever deliver.  That is the Achilles heel and ripe for Democrats to exploit when inflation does indeed rise, and the damage done by the tariff policies will actually be felt the most this summer. We are not there yet.

How do you explain the gaining steam of Bernie Sanders and AOC's anti-oligarch tour?

 I am watching the national media trying to explain why Bernie Sanders and AOC are getting traction. Why did this not happen in 2024? Something happened between then and now. Here is my observation:

1) The rise of the billionaires Trump has empowered them to act on his behalf, fitting them into a new classification term for the US, "oligarchs". Their ignorance and understanding of what services the government provided to the non-rich has been jaw-droppingly insensitive, out of touch with how others live, and angering. This will become even more controversial in any upcoming debate over tax cuts to the rich while cutting services and benefits to the lower and middle classes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2025/04/01/forbes-39th-annual-worlds-billionaires-list-more-than-3000-worth-16-trillion/

2) An administration that many voted for because Trump promised to make life cheaper for those struggling to cope with daily life they cannot afford. Some Trump voters had hoped for Trump, who claimed to represent them in 2024, but now ignores their priorities as he pursues his other own obsessions. This will become an even hotter issue since voters have not yet felt the full force of economic pain caused by the tariff wars and reduced access to veterans benefits, social security, Medicaid, medicare, school lunches, and consumer protections.

3) Public policies are implemented that most blue or red had not voted for...sabotaging social security, firing veterans and hurting their benefits, and removing help for students with disabilities, increasing costs of living instead of lowering them through nutty tariff wars.

4) Trump embracing a dictator like Putin as he ticks off our best foreign friends and makes us a pariah nation to the rest of the free world we used to lead by example and policies.

5) The upshot of 1-4 is happening in March 2025 . It is economic populism at the core, unlike the 2024 elections, which were dominated by cultural populism on issues of racism. It is also related to immigration, too much/ too little diversity, sexism, abortion, gender and LGBTQ issues, and book banning or not. The villains to blame now are the oligarchs who Trump empowered as personified by chainsaw-wielding Elon Musk instead of the libs or fascists.

Note: These are non-partisan issues but appeal to elements in both political parties to which AOC and Sanders appeal.

Note: none of this post is put in terms of ideology or political science concepts like democracy vs.autocracy/fascism, rule of law, constitutional crisis, populism, cultism, or Marxism, which the well-educated grasp. However, everyone else asks, what does this do for me, my family, and my daily life? If Democrats hope to reach more of those without a college education, they must re-orient their messaging terminology.

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5208363-trump-economic-vulnerability/

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/22/nx-s1-5155899/why-education-is-becoming-a-bigger-divide-in-politics

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/donald-trump-hits-historic-low-as-new-poll-shows-his-net-approval-rating-worse-than-any-modern-president-in-decades/articleshow/119344880.cms?from=mdr

Resistance is not enough. Democrats have a winnng leg to stand on updated 12/14/2024

 Resistance is not enough. Democrats have a winning leg to stand on that MAGA does not: It is economic fairness, the lack of which is underlying the demise and resentment of the middle class. Such economic populism can work both ways depending upon who gets the blame.  In 2024 Trump won as more voted for cheaper and in 2025 we will get higher prices and much more: inflation per every economist on the planet. The fallout will not only be political, it will be painful for anyone who is price-sensitive. The last time we tried such a stunt was in the early thirties. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/smoot-hawley-tariff-act

That is the Democrat's messaging challenge: to make sure the Trump regime gets the blame when inflation happens and health care becomes more expensive again, as the cost of housing keeps on soaring, and grocery prices increase, making the Biden era look like the good old days.

 In fact, if there was one issue that tipped the election to Trump, it was his promise to lower grocery prices. He made a big deal of it in his campaign, he promised he would, polls confirmed that was the reason he won, and now he is already admitting he will have a hard time rolling back grocery prices. In fact, the likelihood that grocery prices will inflate will be due to his tariffs on imports from Mexico and a labor shortage from farm to processing caused by mass deportations. https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-already-walked-back-221600205.html

Trump says it will be 'hard' to bring grocery prices down. Here's why. Already, Trump is blaming Biden, not COVID-19, not supply chain mess-ups, empty shelves, or stimulus checks causing more demand than supply. As Biden leaves office, grocery price inflation had been near zero for the past year. However, if grocery prices go south, tariffs and immigration  mass deportations will be to blame,. The message must be more than "we told you so," but to tie it to Trump's own actions and deserved blame for whatever happened on his watch.

Update 1/20/2025 WORTH a read if you can getting through the paywall. My thoughts: if the the feds won't do it, states are trying.

denverpost.com

Colorado lawmakers back bill targeting price gouging, especially in grocery stores

Colorado grocery stores and other sellers of “n

To add insult to injury, the billionaire Elon Musk in charge of Trump's current thinking about cutting "duplicative and unnecessary agencies" has just targeted the recently instituted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (CFPB)Unnecessary for whom? Certainly not necessary for a billionaire. Duplicative of what agency? It was set up to do what other agencies had failed to do or had the power to do. Per Google AI, The FTC's Bureau of Productions for Consumer Protection ICFstops unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent business practices by collecting complaints and conducting investigations, suing companies and people that break the law. developing rules to maintain a fair marketplace. I spent over 20 years as an executive with consumer protection agencies, one similar to the CFPB on the local level, and a credit counseling agency (non-profit) , dealing with debt, foreclosure, and local, public, and private agencies attempting to help consumers deal with these kinds of financial problems. However, when we attempted to alert the Federal Trade Commission about a pattern of civil fraud, there was no easy way to do it nor was there a focus at the FTC to deal with consumer complaints.  Musk does not have a clue of how important the Bureau is. Per the bureau:

• 4 million+ consumer complaints received responses
• $20.7 billion+ in financial relief as a result of CFPB actions
• 205 million+ people eligible for financial relief and their current target: credit card and bank junk fees.

 

That is a good reason why billionaires should not be making such policies.https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-calls-abolishing-consumer-finance-watchdog-targeted-by-republicans-2024-11-27

 For simplicity in messaging, Democrats can paint the GOP (the Trump version) as the party of billionaires while the rest of us sacrifice what makes our lives easier in order to enable their tax breaks and deregulation.  Perhaps, as others have called this, we could tag this as government by an oligopoly or use the Russian term oligarchs.  Trump is still in charge, however, and he sees a benefit to his ego, the measure of his own wealth and influence. to be part of this peer group, and he owes them for important financing of his 2024 campaign. 

 If there is one policy issue that will cause a backlash by everyone, this is it. High tariffs equal high prices. Such inflation caused low-information voters to switch to Trump. It could also cause them to switch back to Democrats. Trump's campaign promises of reducing costs of living for those on a budget are doomed to failure if he makes prices higher and he sabotages what the middle class has taken for granted, access to affordable health care, consumer protections from corporate greed, and social security and Medicare for those who retire.

. In my early adulthood, the middle class could own a home, send kids to college, mom could be a stay-at-home one, and even maybe take a vacation.  The income dad bought home was sufficient. Their buying power permitted it. Since the 1970's the trend to keep that going slowly died off as tax and perk policies, money (now dark, thanks to Citizen's United) from corporate and individually wealthy billionaires have flowed into the political system, sucking the middle class dry with their favoritism and self-interests. Now, they are the ones, yes, like Elon Musk, whispering in the ears of Trump. So long as Trump delivers on his promise to lower grocery prices, the stock market remains bullish, gas at the pump remains at under $3 and the cost of what the middle class buys becomes cheaper,  no one cares if the oligarchs get richer.

Trump is now doubling down on tariffs on even our largest trading partners: Mexico and Canada, in addition to Asian countries, policies guaranteed to make nearly everything middle-class buys more expensive.  If he continues with that insanity, the backlash will be more than palpable, but Democrats have to be able to seize the day, putting the blame where it belongs, and then make the case in simple terms they can make life better. They failed to do that in 2024. Saying and doing the same way over again won't work. They need to get their messaging methods and content retooled and refocused on what the electorate is feeling at the time.

The  Democrats ' answer should be a return to their roots and re-establishing their historic posture of the party of those who are struggling to make ends meet.  The history of the Democratic party used to be as a champion for those left behind. There is no hypocrisy here and plenty of credibility.   Democrats can make the case in the next four years that rule by the ultra-rich on behalf of their corporate interests may talk the populist grievances and say "they feel your pain," but the walk they walk is just making themselves richer. 

 https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/11/elitists-v-simple-speakeducation-is.html

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/11/trumps-achilles-heels-

Elon Musk publicized the names of government employees he wants to cut. It’s terrifying federal workers

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/10/democracy-has-oligarch-problem.html

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R42615/6#:~:text=The%20Consumer%20Financial%20Protection%20Bureau%20(CFPB)%2C%20which%20formally%20started,the%20Dodd%2DFrank%20Act).

ttps://www.newsweek.com/will-trumps-tariffs-drive-inflation-1995274

Biden's ace: you may think he is too old, but he can still push the veto pen updated 2 21 23

There is plenty of harping on both sides of the aisle and popular opinions red and blue that Biden is just too old to run again for president.  There is a case for him to run again. In the meantime, we hear the beating drum for someone younger from both political sides.  He isn't macho enough, he stumbles over words, he is a lousy orator, he looks like an old man, and he acts and walks like one. Not macho enough? He was the first US president to visit a war zone (Kyiv, 2/20/23 )not controlled by US troops. As a family member and  former military said: That takes balls.  It is time for a new generation to run both parties. Biden's ace: you may think he is too old, but he can still push the veto pen.  Given the close divide in both houses of Congress, making veto overrides a non-starter,  that is a critical mass of power.    

We can expect the GOP to make another case: Biden is too liberal, too enamored with expensive government programs, too big of a national debt, and too tough on rich people's taxes to pay for these social programs, so cut the social programs(unspecified) and restore those tax cuts. They object to how Biden opposes their cultural government programs designed to protect kids from modern liberal values, including using government to limit self-sexual identity and protecting tender ears from learning about how others think about such unpleasant history as slavery. Above all, expect the GOP to continue protecting the unborn from the minute of conception, giving them priority over the mental and physical health of the mothers and their ability to shape their futures. Aid for the born is not their platform as the United States' maternal and infant deaths and length of life expectancy fall to the lowest levels in the industrial world. They fear the libs we'll take your guns away, even from those who are too dangerous to have them.

 The GOP goes for the gut as they base their case on appealing to emotions and instincts. They fly under the benign-sounding  banner of "cultural issues" and ask, "what's wrong with that?"  From the left's view, plenty is wrong. These are not pretty values that appeal to the good in all of us or the golden rule of Christianity. Their "cultural" view of democracy is rule by the use of the power of those they favor, even if they are in the minority in polls and election outcomes.  Laws are meant to be tools to manipulate by those in control and who plan to stay in control in the future. While complaining about permissiveness and inclusion as values advanced by the "libs" with government policy, those on the right, too,  advocate using government edict and laws and support strong men who flex their political muscles and lungs as tools to implement them.    Ban books, restrict access to the ballot box and women's ability to exercise choice, and control the minds of children by only teaching them the viewpoint of which they, those in government, approve are just a few of recent initiatives.  They ride the waves of bigotry and racial animous.  They hype fear of changing demographics in an attempt to slow it down by inventing ways to suppress the vote and rights of those they see as threatening them or who have values of which they do not approve.     

Here is a case for Biden running for a second term.

  What Biden has, an old man can still wield political skills developed and honed with a lifetime of experience. His weapons: a telephone and a pen, and he knows whose buttons to push to even get bi-partisan support.  He is stronger than he looks, as his recent 8-hour flight and a ten-hour train ride followed by a day of vigorous public diplomacy and a walkabout Kyiv, and then another train ride and a highly visible speech in Poland after that. Nonetheless, it does not demand physical strength to push a pen or talk on the phone.  

 It does not require a loud voice and soaring demagoguery as Biden demonstrated when he put down hecklers in the State of the Union address. He was quick on his feet. His mind was as sharp as a stiletto in classic put-downs from the podium.. Sometimes "sotto voce," a stage whisper,  a squint, a grin works just as well when a mind is as nimble as his.  What Biden can stop: GOP legislative initiatives which the majority of the public does not support: Biden's ultimate weapon: pushing the veto pen to stop a GOP House from rolling back health care, putting social security and medicare on the chopping block, to a national abortion ban. Who is in the Oval Office makes the most difference. His best argument for 2024? Imagine what would happen if the GOP pushed the veto pen to roll back these popular initiatives and women's right to choose. 

In his speech in Poland 2/21/23, it is clear Biden plans to phrase US foreign policy as democracy v autocracy because democracy means freedom. Freedom means various things to various people, but it also begins at home.  Those in America, too, are  seeing advocates of autocracy raising voices.  It is a movement in America, still a minority, that advocates for "strong leaders" who ignore  and defy the will of the voters.  We have seen some aspiring to be president skate close to autocracy. Florida Governor   Ron DeSantis, supports  the state  having policies that act to shape thought and practice of  citizens to reflect the views of a his preferred religious group that women should have no choice and  he promotes "anti-woke: legislation" which is an unmasked appeal to bigots. His edicts are shaping what children should learn about history that fits  his ideology . That  certainly is not freedom from oppression by one race over another or freedom from thought control by a government.   

What Biden brings to the table is an inherent blue-collar economic populism that rings true in his soul. He is the man of both the past and the here and now: his weapon, himself, Scranton Joe. shaped by a compelling life story of family economic struggles, tragedies, and governmental experiences that are just as relevant today. One of Donald Trump's biggest assets was that he recognized the need to prop up the rust belt. It was a logical political strategy. He wanted to bring manufacturing home to America, and without a background in how to pull the levers of beltway power, he settled for the most direct route: raise tariffs, an attack against the free traders who had always claimed a corner of the GOP.  His anti-union GOP traditional stance neutralized somewhat offset his newly found support from blue-collar workers. The devastating impact of COVID kept him from executing his plans, but the "buy and make it in America ball was picked up by legislative savvy Biden, who carried it to the end zone: the chips bill, the buy America government procurement edict, the switch to a new economy of environmentally friendly batteries.  EVs, windmills, and solar panels all made in the industrial midwest, which translated to jobs, jobs, jobs, and more well-paying union jobs.  The greatest millstone around Biden's neck and hangover from COVID  was inflation that which he left to the federal reserve, mostly a holdover from the Trump administration, which at least was not as bad as the rest of the world experienced. He released oil reserves and increased well pumping to offset the Ukraine war impact, putting weaning from dependence on fossil fuels on temporary hold while supporting full speed ahead of the development of renewables, with nary a yelp from the greens.   

What wise old men like him offer to America: stability in the face of scary, violent, divisive bigotry, a safe harbor from a nerve-shattering storm, and the will to empower those who felt marginalized. His weapon: empathy for those who are the victims regardless of race or religion and innate dedication to inclusiveness.  His is a steady hand at the wheel in such rough seas blown foaming high with cultural winds .  Like Nixon, the staunch anti-communist who opened up relations with Red China, Joe, an old white man, brought the message of inclusiveness to the rest of America in a way that no one of color could.

What he offers to the world is unmatched experience. Biden has an unusual advantage  in leading American foreign policy from serving for many  years as Senate foreign relations chair and an update as a recent vice president:  His weapon,  and a long-term personal knowledge of his greatest world power adversaries: Putin and Chi of China. He looked into their eyes and knows what they are about.  He is no one's fool.   

What we are facing are 50 years of unresolved issues in foreign relations that have evolved to present-day threats to American national security interests.  Putin in Russia is a continuation of the cold war mentality, if not under the red banner of communism, but the flag of hyper-nationalism with the goal of re-assembling Russia's influence and control as it was at the epitome of the power during the cold war as the USSR.  Biden's experience as a savvy participant in shaping and leading American foreign policy stretches over the same fifty-year span.  It is not only knowing the history and not repeating the mistakes in theory,  but he has a knowledge and understanding that no history book can provide, hands-on and personal involvement that has also evolved at the same time.  There is a profound contrast of Biden's foreign policy experience with the naive, self-serving, ignorant comments by Ron DeSantis or others who have had no experience or interest in foreign policy but who are aspiring to be president but who try to downplay Russia as a threat. It may cater to the American first wing of the GOP, but it only demonstrated his naivete and lack of foreign experience chops.  It is not only the contrast that is important; it is the danger to American national interests their ignorance caused as they mouth the same concepts and words that appeased and glorified the rise of fascism and tolerance of the German invasion of their neighbors before Pearl Harbor.   The aftermath of World War II saw the emergence of Russian imperialism in the form of the USSR. Biden has been there, done that, and is facing a similar threat all over again in the form of a former KGB agent who has made it his stated goal to reassemble the glory days of the USSR.

Let the 2024 games begin.  It is one team against the other,  gut v head, and feelings v problem-solving pragmatism. The divide is deep, fundamental, and as old as humanity itself.  It will be the weighing of one set of values against another by the few still in the neutral zone.

U.S. Life Expectancy Is in Decline. Why Aren’t Other Countries Suffering the Same Problem? | Council on Foreign Relations (cfr.org)

U.S. Maternal Mortality Crisis Continues to Worsen | Commonwealth Fund

DeSantis downplays Russia threat after Biden visit - POLITICO

2020: It's the economy,stupid.

Felicia Muftic I have a theory: I sense a shift in publics' top issues. With recent market gyrations and economists' raising concerns about a future recession, the economy is in sharper focus than before when there were no economic clouds on the horizon. This may be too soon to register in opinion polls.  The reason that Warren has risen is that she has her finger on where a large segment of the national mood is now. It is the economy, stupid. Trump has succeeded in convincing his cult followers that he is the only one to provide them with the right economic populist approach, even though trickle-down failed. Others' approaches would make things worse than they have it now. It could be a lot worse with "socialists". who would bankrupt the economy., so his line goes. This only works if the economy does not take a turn for the worse before November 2020. Warren has a specific economic populist approach that she has been able to explain in not threatening tones aimed at the financial sector, mostly. She has so far escaped putting a price tag on her plans or an overt socialist tag. She has a more narrow focus on specific issues, claiming she just wants the capitalist economy to work better for all.  She may get away with it because like Bernie, she is no phony and has a long track record of advocating for her plans. It may come down to whom voters trust more to be on their side when it comes to economic populism and it may be more of a matter of personalities instead of plans and ideology. Biden has a more general approach: steady at the wheel and no crazy boat-rocking. His plans for the economy are more traditional and moderate and that appeals to another segment of swing voters who are not feeling economically strapped but who are disgusted with the craziness, lies, misogyny, and racism. His old guy, his long public record would not scare them off and leave them sitting on their hands on election day. Any of the above mentioned Democratic candidates could still win and be better than the Trump nut house. The irony is that it may not come down to who has the better economic populist plan or the more appealing personality, but an economic downturn would yank the rug out from any of Trump's claim he has the best plan. Timing is everything, but for that latter theory to work, the downturn needs to come before November 2020. That is more than a theory, but it is not yet a sure bet.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tariffs-cost-americans-115849705.html?utm_content=buffer7dc8c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm