Affordability vs economy is not about semantics; both are true at the same time

 Affordability vs economy is not about semantics; both are true at the same time. Why the disconnect? Trump may be touting his great economy, but those concerned about having enough money to pay for the basics have been left out of his "economy". Update: 12/18/2025: Consumer prices rose 2.7 percent in the past 12 months. Consumer Price Index Summary - 2025 M11 Results

Update 12/28/25  If you can download it, here is a non-spun look at the US by the British Guardian. It is a mixed bag of unmet promises and strength in other ways not felt by those living on a budget. The conclusions are similar to mine above. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/the-2025-us-economy-in-charts-rising-prices-hiring-slowdown-rollercoaster-growth/ar-AA1T9XDx?ocid=socialsharehe co

Continue with original post:

U The Trump administration's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) resulted in a shift of wealth toward the wealthiest Americans and corporations, the "greatest upward transfer of wealth in American history," some say, and Trump made affordability worse by his tariffs and cutting everything from SNAP to Obamacare. However, those who live paycheck to paycheck or barely make ends meet, at least 40% of Americans, are those for whom the term "affordability" means something, and the term "economy being great" looks like a lie by an out-of-touch president. Polls and rece/nt off-year election wins by those who made affordability their top issue show that the political chickens have come home to roost.

Fact checking Trump's address 12/17/25 PolitiFact | Fact-check: President Trump’s speech on inflation, wages, military dividend

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Failed To Deliver Promised Benefits - Center for American Progress

When I compared my expenses from February 2025 to November 2025, what stood out to me was a significant spike in my electric company costs. I belong to a rural provider that is non profit and provides excellent service, so I could not blame greed or bad management. Nonetheless, the cost rose. What and why? This from CBS was comprehensive and a part , not the largest part ,of the reasons had to do with a variety of Trump initiatives. Otherwise there are a large variety of pressures on prices. Why utility bills are rapidly rising in some states - CBS News

MAGA supporters cheer Trump's economy, but the stuff has not hit the fan yet

Trump has been touting near the same interest rates and consumer prices that he inherited from Biden, and now Trump has engineered the economy's eventual slow decline into higher living costs, hurting all but the well-off. The stuff has not hit the fan yet.  Many of Trump's policies will come to a head over the next six months, leaving a sustained bad taste in the mouths of voters in time for the 2026 midterms, when all congressional members are up for re-election or the filling of open seats..  That is just for starters, because the Medicaid cuts, which were once intended to enable individuals to access affordable healthcare, will not take effect until after the November 2026 Congressional elections, when the full impact of those cuts will be felt by the voters themselves.

The announcement of the "trade/tariff" deal with the EU and major Asian trading partners, which included the largest tariff increases since the Great Depression, also hit consumers' pockets. As imported inventory is sold off, the new tariffs become additional costs that are passed on to retail customers. Businesses that cannot adjust or compete by raising costs and prices to customers will likely go out of business. It is a short-term victory for Trump, but it was a bitter pill for consumers that will be felt over the next six months. Still out there, even higher than the EU tariffs of 15%, are the "deals" that have not been finalized with Canada and Mexico. That stuff has not yet hit the fan, either.  The tiff with the Federal Reserve, Trump's pressure to lower interest rates, ignores the reason given by the Fed for holding off on lowering interest rates: it is due to the fear that these tariffs will lead to higher consumer prices and inflation.  What the tariffs would actually be is now only partially resolved.

Those crowing that today the Trump policies of the Big Beautiful Bill and the dramatic increase in health care costs to those who are living on the economic margins and the disaster facing access to rural health have not hit the fan either. The impact of the mass deportations on farm,  domestic, construction,  and hospitality workers, jobs not sought by already employed Americans, has also not hit the fan.

We in Grand County, Colorado, will know who to blame.  28 to 38 percent hike in health insurance premiums and costs. That one will be felt before the November 2026 midterms when you can thank your Congressperson who voted for this....

.https://www.skyhinews.com/news/colorado-health-insurance-rates-jump-high-in-the-next-year-western-slope-increase/

For the record, inflation is creeping up, with the threat of higher tariffs looming, rising last month from 2.4 percent to 2.7 percent. In December 2024, Biden's last month in office, the unemployment rate was 2.9 percent...and we are not far from that. Gas at the pump prices are now near what Biden left them in January (per AAA.). Update 7/30/2025: As Biden left office, the economy grew by 2.4% in the last quarter of 2024.  The growth rate released today under the Trump regime rose to 3%, as the Fed meets to discuss whether to lower interest rates. As recently stated by the Fed chair, this is a heated economy, and the impact of the high tariffs on consumers is still a threat to inflation.  They will be considering this as they meet today. Google AI:and Gross Domestic Product, 4th Quarter and Year 2024 (Third Estimate), GDP by Industry, and Corporate Profits | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

Conflict between presidents and the federal reserve has a history.   Politicians like to lower rates,, whether they are in a democracy or in a dictatorship.  It is good politics...but it could be a disaster to ignore economics

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Trump's latest attack on the Federal Reserve has a history

.reuters.com/business/fed-keeps-rates-steady-despite-trumps-pressure-with-two-governors-dissenting-2025-07-30/#:~:text=Summary,for%20the%20fifth%20consecutive%20meetingt: 

   

 The price of crude oil, the basis for gas prices, is controlled by Middle East oil cartels, not the president of the US. The announced trade deal with the EU included "investments" in US energy, and the details and impact on the price of crude to consumers are unknown. However, it is beneficial for US oil and gas producers who have been seeking markets for the glut of oil and gas in the ground they are currently experiencing.

The Consumer Price Index rose 2.7 percent for the 12 months ending June 2025 : The Economics Daily: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics     "The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 2.7 percent for the 12 months ending June 2025, after rising 2.4 percent over the 12 months ending May. Prices for all items less food and energy rose 2.9 percent over the past 12 months, while shelter prices increased 3.8 percent over the last year. "

Some ideas to fix the Democratic Party's sink in the polls. Messaging again.

Recent polls show that Trump's policies take a dive, but the Democratic Party takes one, too. That has got to be fixed. A damning finding in recent polls that show Trump is underwater in public policy issues, but the trust in Congressional Democrats is even worse. Americans Still Trust Donald Trump Over Democrats  Democrats have been floundering around with messages that are almost all anti-Trump. Still, they have not been able to offer a vision of what they can offer that is a positive alternative to MAGA. Here are some thoughts for some rephrasing. They are the flip side of Trump's negatives expressed in positives and based on values as umbrellas over issues   Resistance is still the strongest message, but that is helped by Trump's own failures on the economy and creating chaos amid incompetence, for which he is taking the blame. It has little to do with anything the Democratic party made happen, but was of Trump's own doing..  Will Democrats come out with something meaningful for the future, too, that is different from just warming up stale toast phrases of the past ? 

Messages on "cultural issue" emphasize fairness 

Fear of revenge using government tools or access to the President as favors will not be tolerated. 

 Strengthen  and protect our Constitutional democracy and the rule of law 

 Acting humanely is  a value we support 

Strengthen the middle class and  working people's standard of living .  

Reform government functions to provide better customer services and staffed with non-partisan personnel who are chosen by ability and merit

 Restore the US  leadership in the world so we can influence what is good for our own national interests 

For the case for each, continue:

Waiting for a Trump-like demagogue to arise on the Democrats' side has just not happened.  Once in a while, lightning strikes Democrats with an Obama able to deliver soaring oratory and a media presence.  Instead, Democrats will have to rely on messaging delivered clearly and in simple words with an appeal that is as broad as their historical values permit. There will be lots of voices, but even then, there needs to be common themes for the greatest impact, and still, there is no one coordinating this, not even in Congress, or in the Democratic National Committee. 

While it is easy to be the party of resistance to Trump's arrogant power grabs and insensitivity to economic populist concerns, polls also show Trump is losing independents, even chunks of blue-collar, non-college-educated voters, which is likely due to Bernie Sanders and AOC's anti-oligarch tour.   Hispanics who boosted him into his second term are also fleeing MAGA. Democrats need to get real. 2024 was a rejection of the party's policy priorities on the economy and "cultural issues," and that hangover is still there.   What is missing are themes that indicate what the Democrats would do in the future besides being resistant to Trump's unpopular policies. 

Resistance is still the strongest message, but that is helped by Trump's own failures on the economy and creating chaos amid incompetence, for which he is taking the blame. It has little to do with the Democratic Party's strategy.  Repeating past themes was not a winner for Democrats either.  

 Democrats also must consider the possibility that Trump, faced with bad polls and crashing Wall Street, and an alarmed GOP about the 2026 midterms, could cause him to reverse course on key issues. He certainly has demonstrated flexibility, so much so that he has created instability by nearly daily changing positions. There are vulnerabilities like corruption and self-dealing that could also become enduring resistance themes, and the damage he has done to the economy could linger despite any policy adjustments that last all the way to midterms.  Corruption has yet to be made into a big issue, but it is ripe to make it a big deal already. MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Trump's grift: grist for the impeachment mill?

The peaceful street demonstrations, led by non-partisan outsiders, like 50501 and Indivisible, contain many clues about resistance themes that are umbrellas for various Trump initiatives that fuel public anger. "Hands off 'social security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and our Constitutional democracy has caught on. That theme has legs that last longer than just months because it encompasses so many victims or potential victims regardless of party, race, or religion..  

So, what are the positives that Democrats can offer going forward? Maybe even those too cowardly to take Trump directly on, could at least support positive, constructive statements. Here are some ideas to consider. These fortify values all Democrats support, and getting a consensus on the umbrella positions should not be that hard.They still can't help but reflect the resistance themes, but they can be rephrased in the positive: They also can rephrase popular historical themes wth broad appeal while contrasting their values with MAGA's. The problem is keeping the Democratic party's shopping list from getting tied up in details. Still, it is better if they stick to themes that are broad umbrellas that avoid jargon and technical terms and focus on the impact on ordinary people's lives. The details do not have to be ignored, but they need to constantly be related to the umbrella theme. For example, inflation and/or recession are indeed  concerns because they harm the middle class who still have budgets they need to balance. 

 How about Democrats' messages on "cultural issue" emphasize fairness? For example, observe and support Constitutional protections of individual rights, instead of subverting them with threats of persecution and favoring one race or ideology over another.

I notice that the word "fair" permeates these  other suggestions as well.

 How about a government that will treat all fairly without fear or favor? (As opposed to white Christian nationalist stranglehold on the GOP with Project 2025, under the guise of anti-DEI,  that is being implemented by Trump's appointees, the writers of the Project, to key personnel positions in his administration.) . This use of fear and favor accounts for the attack on academic freedom and autocratic control over thought, expression, speech, and and press that demand toeing the ideological line of that ideology at the risk of losing funding.  Fear of revenge using government tools or access to the President as favors will not be tolerated. 

The issue of fairness is also relevant to immigration policy. While all would like to see criminals without documentation of legal status deported, the recent Trump shift is to family separation and due process for non-gang-related undocumented people.  How we administer deportation is as important as what we do about immigration. Acting humanely is also a value we support instead of acting cruelly.   Cruelty should never be a strategy. Instead, we should fund effective border security in compliance with the rule of law. That is the fair way. Trump had made headway on stopping illegal border crossings. Still, he is now underwater because of failure or flubs in mass deportation or following due process, even the Supreme Court ruled 9-0, to which deportees were entitled. Trump's declining favorability in polls, even on his signature issue of mass deportation, indicates that even some of his supporters still value fairness and are uncomfortable with cruelty.

How about a promise to strengthen our Constitutional democracy  and the rule of law(as opposed to grabbing power for the executive branch that grants power to a wannabe dictator). This is the opposite of respecting and abiding by the judicial branch. At issue is a subset of who controls the courts.  Trump is testing how far he can go in defying court orders, and arresting or impeaching judges who do not abide by Trump ideology or policies.  

 Issues to watch develop:  Issues to watch: Trump's use of active military to enforce domestic laws: on the road to fascism. https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/trumps-expanded-domestic-military-use-should-worry-us-all?fbclid=IwY2xjawJ9rTFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFxa3RZYUk1eGNIUzZvRDh4AR5FNQQWstd9vC-72FR1pc7wavt5RbVDFxwmOxy0x-ey1rLnUpffrb2XL46vXw_aem_2A5GiPRJPFYVUySi8-cVsQ

https://newrepublic.com/article/194463/100-days-trump-clown-show-fascism

How about favoring strengthening the middle class and  working people's standard of living (instead of the very rich and billionaires) in economic policies? A correlative is how about requiring federal budgets and new legislation to have realistic payfors and be fair to the middle class as well as to the poor and sick people, instead of padding bank accounts of those who are already ultra-rich?  This may be the most fertile ground because most people are sensitive to both prices and service, accessibility, competence, and responsiveness, and it impacts most people of various demographics and similar income levels.

How about reforming government functions to provide better customer services and staffed with non-partisan personnel who are chosen by ability and merit (instead of loyalty to a certain ideology or person) 

 While foreign policy is never high on voters' minds unless we are involved in a major war, how about involvement in the world in ways that restores US in leadership in the world so we can influence what is good for our own national interests  (instead of letting our adversaries fill a leadership vacuum with China and Russia). We should strengthen NATO, support Ukraine, counter Chinese attempts to control economies and governments in Africa and Southeast Asia, because withdrawal (isolationism) only strengthens our adversaries' power for their national agenda, which is not ours.

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: A proposition: a loose coalition of many with the theme: Save our democracy

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Democracy in context: abstract vs reality. Messaging again.

Pete's Opening Message, Live in Iowa  Pete Buttigieg sets the stage by 1)saying the Party cannot go back like it was before 2) and must come up with a new approach.  

Reaction to Day One: Yes, hate won and that wasn't all.

 Yes, hate won in November 2024 and on January 20, 2025. Those happiest with Trump's Day One executive edicts and executive orders( some clearly requiring a change in the Constitution or laws passed by Congress) should be the white nationalist racists who had hoped for the end of affirmative action (no more DEI that put nonwhites and women into the military and governmental.(Trump just placed on leave all DEI administrators), and end birthright citizenship. He cannot amend the Constitution or violate civil service rules with an executive order. ; instead, there will be an attempt to end their rights by amending the Constitution, and the lawsuits against wrongful termination will be flying. The homophobes should be clicking their heels. They won on their gender issues. No more trans to be respected or tolerated or required to be included in sports or even in and educational institutions.. The green light to make such hate politically correct has just been given. Civility, tolerance, and inclusiveness are no longer in vogue in government.

Of great importance to democracy is the rule of law, not the rule of a ruler, dictator, autocrat, or "strong man." Without adherence to the rule of law, we are no longer a democracy by and for the people because the constraints of law to a law-breaking leader are key to keeping our republic. Both Trump's day one executive orders and his prior announced intents make a mockery of the rule of law and seriously undermine the democracy we have known for 250 years. This topic has been moved to its own post. https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/01/welcome-to-brave-new-world-where-some.html

Left from the Day One list for now are details to be determined later: tariffs, ending aid to Ukraine, and Schedule F replacing civil servants with Trump loyalists with allegiance to him rather than to the intent of laws they administer and were sworn to uphold. All administrative rules are frozen, pending review...and probably reversed if they are too green or a burden to business bottom lines. Among those on the table are Trump's touting freedom of speech while having threatened in the past to delicense media who opposed him. The extent of his actual actions and practice of "mass deportations" is yet to be seen in practice. Also yet to be seen what social programs and health insurance will be affected by his edict on Day One to cut government expenses. Stay tuned for that. Oligarchs like Musk, who are in charge of proposing them, have no clue how a person on a budget lives. What they care about is keeping and increasing tax breaks for the very wealthy instead, cutting services to ordinary struggling Amercicans to get their tax breaks while not impacting the national debt.

https://apnews.com/article/dei-trump-executive-order-diversity-834a241a60ee92722ef2443b62572540

President Donald Trump executive orders: See full Day 1 list – NBC New York

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: New resistance opportunity arises: Rule by oligarchs and class warfare updated 1 14 and 16 2025

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Democracy has an oligarch problem updated 1/17/2025

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: With General Milley calling Trump "fascist to the core", what's a fascist?

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: The BS of "drill baby drill"; makes unnecessary useless

As Trump takes office, he will be inheriting a quiet border : NPR

If it's the economy stupid, MAGA's rise is its likely demise

 Listening to chest-beating, hand-wringing, and soul-searching by liberals, just hang tight. MAGA has sowed the seeds for its own destruction if the single issue that determined the Nov. 5 outcome was indeed the economy.  For those who viewed economics simply as the rent was still too high, so were interest rates, and grocery prices had not come down to the good ole pre-COVID days,and they couldn't buy a house, etc.  So what if inflation was again low and everyone had a job that paid more than before COVID  and gas was under $3 per gallon. It was not good enough.  Harris proposed government plans to fix housing and grocery costs; Trump only said," Trust him." Voters who think in these simple terms will also be the same ones ticked if MAGA/Trump causes inflation to rise again. There will be a backlash, whether it is in 2026 or 2028. What are the odds of inflation to ignite? It is not a matter of when, not if.

Update: 12/14/2024 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 importations. 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 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.

 Whether inflation rises again depends on how much Trump/MAGA gets their agenda activated and how soon. What they promised to do in the campaign alone will cause inflation to rise again. Among the most influential in setting economic policy are the oligarchs. Who are the oligarchs influencing the economy whispering in Trump's ear?  VP  JD Vance's mentor and funder is billionaire Peter Thiel.  Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has become Trump's best funder, friend, and economic policy influencer. Along with Jeff Bezos(Amazon/ Washington Post) and the Murdoch dynasty that own media empires, including FOX, such oligarchs control the message, too. 

 With Elon Musk most likely steering the economy, Musk will get his government contracts, the oligarchs backing Trump will get their tax and regulatory breaks, and tariffs will be imposed across the board as Trump promised. So fasten your inflation seat belts as it rises like Musk's rockets. All cause inflation and run up the country's debt. Interests will rise to deal with inflation again, provided Musk does not get his way to turn the Fed into another political instrument to set interest rates that make Trump look good instead of putting the brakes on inflation. And when they start cutting social security, medicare, Medicaid, nutrition programs, and Obamacare to deal with the debt problem instead of the oligarchs paying more taxes, good luck with that, too. No matter how low a voter's education achievement may be, no one, working or middle,  is going to forgive that hit to their family's well-being and the sacrifices they are expected to tolerate to make the rich even richer. And all will be screaming at the price of eggs again.

Nationwide, on average, 79% of U.S. adults are literate in 2022. 21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2022. 54% of adults have a literacy below sixth-grade level. 21% of Americans 18 and older are illiterate in 2022

55 US Literacy Statistics: Literacy Rate, Average Reading Level

Bond rebound uncertain as Trump plans overshadow Fed rate cuts | Reuters  Forecast: higher consumer prices

Walmart just leveled with Americans: China won’t be paying for Trump’s tariffs, in all likelihood you will

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

Post mortem

COVID and its recovery being so painful was the true immediate issue no doubt...but the economy will be different in two and four years, and if Trump follows his promises on the economy, we will have a disaster in the future. If he screws up on the economy and increases the deficits and debt, and causes a serious recession, as those in my family with plenty of credentials predict, the pendulum will swing wildly the other way in four years. I still stand by my comments about the changing demographics. When Harris became the candidate, I wrote that her greatest liability was that she was black and a woman, and that was also her greatest asset. I was very wrong on the latter half of that sentence. She embodied as a person the fears so many have of our changing demographics and culture. Trump offers no solutions and in fact, will be the instrument making this country more miserable. Let us visit this in two or three years from now. If you followed my blog, you will have noted that national security and foreign policy were my priorities, and I see a disaster on the horizon as Trump joins the Axis of Evil as an appeaser. It is 1938 again..the year of my birth. 

My updated elevator pitch answer to MAGA's BS about Biden's economy failures

 My one-floor elevator pitch when MAGA claims Biden was a failure.  He has a successful handoff to Harris Trump would reverse..   Updated 10 8 2024

  We had COVID. Remember??  It was the worst economy since the Great Depression, and Trump handed that off to Biden. Obama had handed off a great economy to Trump, too. The economy had frozen. When it thawed in 2021, there was pent-up consumer demand and screwed-up supply chains that caused too much demand for supplies, causing inflation. Biden fixed it. The inflation rate is now back close to 2% normal; interest rates already going down. Gas at the pump is less than a buck more than when Trump left office. The predicted recession never happened. Grocery price inflation has stopped, but prices are still too high. Housing and rents are still too high. Trump has no plan to fix those; Harris does. Trump's plans include cross-the-board tariffs on all imports, with costs passed on to consumers, adding $4K to a family's annual expenses and reigniting inflation.

Some of a variety of sources I relied on for these conclusions:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/really-think-donald-trump-good-141226513.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christianweller/2024/03/22/the-economy-is-much-stronger-than-four-years-ago/

Trump says he will 'end' inflation. Economists say he'd make it worse (usatoday.com)

US Consumers Regain Confidence in Economy Ahead of Election - Newsweek

Trump's biggest fibs September 10 build his foundation on sand.

Gullibles' travails.  Eventually, one can only hope outright Trump lies will catch up with the con man. Maybe also, there is something else at work, even if Trump lies. For MAGA, facts are irrelevant. Trump channels his followers' racial rage/ white nationalism/anti-immigrants, misogyny, and self-interest of pro-business segments with low regulation and taxes that appeal more than those who know better and don't care about facts and the end of democracy. This is really dangerous to the foundtation of this country. Trump's lies ignored are like building a house on sand. If the gullible prevails, eventually, the foundation crumbles and collapses when, unfortunately, it is too late to repair the damage.  

(Update 9 16 24.  In defense of the Springfield Haitian dog-eating hoax he had promoted, GOP VP candidate JD Vance said, "It is OK to make stories up to get media attention" because Harris was getting a free ride from the press.  https://www.thhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/15/jd-vance-lies-haitian-immigrantseguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/15/jd-vance-lies-haitian-immigrants.  How very sad that Trump and Vance depend on the gullibility of their most loyal base, who they hope are as easily manipulated and fooled by their lies as they think. )

Aurora, Colorado mayor admits he overstated Venezuelan gang problem in Aurora, Colorado. https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2024/09/11/aurora-venezuelan-gang-arrests-mike-coffman-danielle-jurinsky

"Migrant crime" is now Trump's shorthand for his anti-immigrant fear and hate platform.  Aside from the substance of the crazy conspiracy theory of Haitians eating family pets in Springfield, Ohio, this is Trump's big dog whistle to the racists and those wanting to get rid of immigrants who are "adulterating our blood."  The pet story excrement was debunked in real-time by the moderators and later by fact-checkers. Trump hit two of his platform planks in one blow: immigrant hatred and fear of black people.

In any case, fact-checkers had a field day on the September 10 debate. It was rich pickings. Looking at the various fact-checking, here are the biggest fibs Trump told in the September debate, and they are fundamental to his pitch to the gullible and others with its racism/immigration, lues about the economy and prices, energy/oil, and national security/male superiority/misogyny.  

Trump's pitch ever since 2016 is that immigrants are bringing crime and are responsible for a crime surge. Fact check: 1) The rate of crime was worse under Trump than now.  2) Illegal immigrants' crime rate is well below the rate for American-born (probably because they do not want to be sent back to what they fled if they get caught). 3) It also appeared to some viewers as a surprise that Trump killed the bi-partisan funding bill this spring, which would have funded more border guards and immigration judges, fentanyl detection equipment, and more of the wall so his supporters' anger about immigration could last through Nov. 5 . 4) Illegal border crossing volume now are lower than  Trump's at the end of his presidency.More on the subject below. Update 9 13 24: More Trump lying BS on immigrants and Venezuelan gangs:  Colorado mayor, police respond to Trump's claims that Venezuelan gang is 'taking over' (msn.com)  

Ukraine and national security: Trump, US taxpayers are losers because we are paying for this war while Europe gets a free ride (paraphrased). 1)Europe's contribution as a whole is nearly two times the US's. Putin's next victim if he is not stopped in Ukraine is Poland. Clever Harris: 800,000 Polish-related Pennsylvania voters in a critical swing state. 2) Misogyny: Harris is a woman, therefore de facto weak. The latter is not a fact-based response. It was the best line of the debate from Harris, given Trump's ego-driven personality flaw making him vulnerable to manipulation and flattery: " Putin will eat you for lunch. " Hawks like Dick Cheney and lists of national security advisors and retired generals are supporting Harris. She's got the cajones.

The big lie: Trump: no," I was just being sarcastic when I admitted I lost the 2020 election by a whisker." This was fact-checked as false by the moderator in real-time in the debate broadcast. Trump was not being sarcastic. It was enough to tick off January 6 mob leader Nick Fuentes, who thought he was a patriot.  So the Big Lie was really a big lie, underlying GOP efforts to keep adversaries from voting with any number of suppression methods and intimidation, including violence and threats by Trump to throw election officials, adversaries of all kinds, in jail if he wins.

Women's health: Trump: babies killed after birth by Roe v Wade. Nope. That's murder anywhere. This is Harris's 100-pound gorilla pitch impact: "The government should not tell women what to do about their own health and bodies, and they can still keep their own personal beliefs." Harris just wants to restore Roe v Wade, which we had for 50 years, and Trump's Court appointees tanked. She would sign that legislation like Roe  Wade sent by Congress. Trump's abortion bans in one-third of our states kill women, cause needless suffering, or make them infertile for lack of medical care in a miscarriage. In the debate, Trump weaseled out of answering (it's a state's rights thing) whether he would sign a nationwide abortion ban, probably because he would lose a large portion of his followers if he said he would not sign a federal ban. On ban details, he changed his position at least four times since March.

Economy and inflation: Trump paraphrased:"Economy: sucks, and I Trump will fix it". Reality check: Yes, grocery prices are too high, but gas at the pump has fallen to more tolerable levels. The inflation rate is now the lowest in three years...under 3%, near normal. Trump keeps hyping his  grievance, with no fix, and even a plan to make inflation worse. However he appeals to an unstated fantasy coddled by low-information voters that he will get them back to nearer pre-COVID prices. Heard on TV from COVID amnesiacs, "I liked the economy better under Trump, so he will do a better job. " With no plan, no how to do it? Keep the faith, MAGA. By the way, wages are up higher than price increases and Harris wants a nationwide minimum wage of $15/hr.  Was the post-COVID -inflation spike all Biden's fault? Nope and nope. Pent-up demand and the supply chain slow gearing up post-COVID equaled too much pent-up demand for too little supply.  Harris has a plan for helping middle-class living be more affordable while inflation rates. Harris's plan will prosecute gougers, deny monopoly price setting, flood the market with cheaper housing that is affordable for first-time buyers and renters, and make health care even cheaper by battling big pharma and financial relief for new parents.

Women's health: Trump: babies killed after birth by Roe v Wade. Nope. That's murder anywhere. This is Harris's 100-pound gorilla pitch impact: "The government should not tell women what to do about their own health and bodies, and they can still keep their own personal beliefs." Harris just wants to restore Roe v Wade, which we had for 50 years, and Trump's Court appointees tanked. Harris would sign that legislation sent by Congress. Trump's abortion bans in one-third of our states kill women, cause needless suffering, or make them infertile for lack of medical care in a miscarriage. In the debate, Trump weaseled out of answering (it's a state's rights thing) whether he would sign a nationwide abortion ban, probably because he would lose a large portion of his followers if he said he would not sign a federal ban. On ban details, he changed his position at least four times since March.https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/trump-has-only-concepts-of-a-plan-to-replace-aca-harris-vows-to-expand-health-law/

Obamacare: Trump tried to kill it.  Has only "concepts' to replace, but one concept is to return to a failed attempts to put all of those with pre-existing conditions put in one pool. It had failed before in som many states where that was tried was the reason Obamacare came to being.  It has to do with an actuarial pool that was so narrow and and so hard to qualify for it failed. The costs required either huge subsidies or raise the premiums so no one could afford to pay them. https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-house-trumpcare-bill-could-be.html

Economy matters and deserves some more details: 

1)The rate of annual price increases (inflation)  is now below 3%, the lowest in 3 years,  and near the historical normal. The bleeding has stopped, but we are stuck with past inflationary prices. That hurts. On average, the good news is wage increases have been more than inflation increases, with Harris bucking for the $15 minimum.. Everyone who wants a job has one with the lowest unemployment rate in 54 years. The Fed is predicted to lower interest rates this month since inflation is licked. 

2)Trump's proposed solution to fund the government (so he can continue to give a tax break to the very rich and keep the rest of us quiet): 10 to 20% on all imports with tariffs. Tariffs are like sales taxes, paid for by importers themselves (not their governments), who raise prices to cover added costs, and the prices are like a rising tide that raises all boats in the entire marketplace while boosting deficit/debt. Nearly all big-time economists agree.

 3) Oil and energy prices at the pump are dramatically down to less than a buck more than in the old days as crude oil has enough supply on hand and unused leases to provide oil for the next 40 years...so drill baby drill makes the unnecessary useless.  Natural gas? Enough forever. 

4) Harris opposed fracking natural gas? Give me a break. Trump, please update this before lying again. She evolved years ago and does not oppose it now. Her energy policy is all of the above, a combination of renewables and traditional sources.  

5) Obamacare? Trump only has a "concept" to improve and/or replace Obamacare (used by over 16  million people), his same old empty promise since 2016. Where's the beef? Next to women's health, this may be the largest sleeper gorilla infecting Trump's hoped-for voter support. 

I mostly drew on ABC and CNN fact-checking post-debate on September 10 and many recent posts on my blogspot. Key word the blog to search sources and posts on my blog.

New sources not cited on my  blog before:

 Ukraine      https://www.ifw-kiel.de/publications/news/europe-has-a-long-way-to-go-to-replace-us-aid-large-gap-between-commitments-and-allocations/   Commitments and actual expenses by Europe are much more than the US's...but not sufficient as a replacement for US assistance. They still need us

.News: Unemployment is at its Lowest Level in 54 years | U.S. Department of Commerce

When the bi-partisn immigration bill was killed by Trump, Biden issued some executive orders.Border crossings are lower now under Biden than when Trump left office.  From:How do Biden, Trump's border policies compare? (newsnationnow.com)Yes, closing the border to all but manageable levels, given our current capacity, got the figures down.( But that is a half done job and subject to legal challenge and existing authorized expenditures.. Border guards are underfunded and understaffed.. Wall unfinished. Fentanyl detection machinery is unfunded. Biden's exec order can be challenged in court because it ignores the intent of federal immigration legislation to provide asylum to all those those qualifying under the law.) Per the article: "last month, Biden signed an executive order shutting down asylum requests at the U.S.-Mexico border once the average number of daily encounters between ports of entry hits 2,500. According to several people familiar with the discussions, the border will reopen only once that number declines to 1,500...After Biden’s executive action went into effect at the southern border, he touted a drop in illegal immigration, saying encounters have gone down over 50% with levels lower than when Trump left office." July 2024.

Overtime pay: Project 2025 would make more workers exempt and deceptively, Trump would not tax overtime pay and tips.   Harris also would exempt tips from taxes, but would not exempt workers from overtime pay. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-warnings-from-democrats-about-project-2025-and-donald-trump

Proved Reserves of Crude Oil and Natural Gas in the United States, Year-End 2022 (eia.gov)

Statement from President Joe Biden on Record ACA Enrollment Numbers | The White House

Do women have the balls to be president? Trump, Vance "mysogynistic pigs"?

 Our family, fortunately, has the ability to interface with people of many views.  Here is what he got from an associate, absolutely the craziest train of thought and a dangerous one from a dedicated Trump supporter.  A recent conversation hit two Trump/MAGA hot buttons: misogyny and why Dictator Trump should be elected to avoid nuclear war. The misogyny thing got an angry snort from me and reminded me of the time when I was told I had balls. https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/09/newest-magalland-craziness-way-to.html

Vance's attack on women who are childless cat women and Huckabee Sanders as women who do not have their own children as not humble enough are echoes of a bygone era where women knew their place, and it was not out in politics. They were slurs meant to appeal to Trump's male heavy support. https://19thnews.org/2024/09/poll-women-driving-harris-lead-over-trump/  

It also got Liz Cheney's dander up, too. Talking about balls, she has 'em. She called Trump and Vance "misogynist pigs".Liz Cheney Rips Into ‘Misogynistic Pigs’ Trump and Vance to Hoots and Hollers (msn.com)

Let us talk about this misogynist twist. One of the strangest results of my attempt to run for mayor was to oust a powerful political boss of a major city so Denver could have a modern future in which people wanted to live, which left me with mixed feelings. I almost did it, coming in second in a nonpartisan field of 13. The big guy still won, but his age and incompetence got him, and Federico Pena won the next election, got us to imagine a great city, and created one, too, in two terms as mayor of Denver, later serving in two presidential cabinet posts.   After my election, the word came around that "boy, did I have balls". Yes, I was fearless, and yes, I had verbal skills. I guess that was the highest compliment I could have gotten in the early 1970s as the first woman to attempt to run for that position (and in modern times, the first to run for any city-wide office).   

So hats off to Harris, who had the balls to take on drug cartels and a four four-year apprenticeship to get to know every foreign leader and threat in this world,  She has the balls and the experience, unlike the amateur elected in 2016 TV star with no comparable government or national security experience and a reputation of a great businessman (that we know now was based on fraud, deceit, and multiple bankruptcies. ) His only management skill was modeled after mob bosses, based up ginning fear , lies, threats, and taking retribution against the opposition, perfectly suited for becoming a dictator (which is a mob boss in national political power).

Do you have no balls, women? I'll pit Indira Gandhi, Angela Merkel, Margaret Thatcher, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Catherine the Great, and Golda Meir against any man, regardless of politics and lifestyle. Some were monarchs, and some did it within democracies. My family member, male, almost 60, white, hopes that Harris comes across more like Iron Lady, still ladylike, Thatcher, and paints Trump as a belly-up appeasing coward who can't understand why anyone would die defending our country.

It also got Lia Cheney's dander up, too.  She called Trump and Vance "misogynist pigs".Liz Cheney Rips Into ‘Misogynistic Pigs’ Trump and Vance to Hoots and Hollers (msn.com)

OK, now for the dictator crap:

Destroying democracy as Trump can do on day one by signing all the already prepared documents submitted by his supporters at the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025,. All can be done with his newly granted immune powers to set a dictatorship in motion.  It would not be like a frog in gradually boiling water. The Heritage Foundation plans to do this in the first 180 days. Turning back civil and women's rights and health care to the 1950s just "might" be resisted, and the internal chaos that would cause would simply make us more vulnerable to those taking aggressive action. Destroying mutual defense treaties would mean we would be on our own, and Western Europe would go its own way regarding Russian aggression, while Trump would just let Putin have Ukraine. So that is just for starters. He's an appeaser and a belly-upper.   

 Ultimate hawk Dick Cheney, former VP, just announced he was voting for Harris in no uncertain terms.Trump responded "he's irrelevant". He can only hope. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ten-former-top-us-military-officials-back-harris-call-trump-a-danger-2024-09-09

 Business cannot be conducted in that atmosphere, and high tariffs, according to every Nobel prize economist in the world, and businessmen know themselves only lead to high inflation, probably recession, and moving manufacturing out of the US to avoid retaliatory action.  That is why Wall Street, led by Goldman Sachs and others, is beginning to wake up and panic at the thought of Trump implementing his plans.  Good luck to our economy and national security in the next four years of Trump's presidency.   

We also tried America First out once in the1930s; we watched English PM Chamberlain declare peace in our times as he handed the Czechs over to Hitler, and Japan saw us without the political will or ability to defend themselves. Appeasement ended in Dec.7 1941. It was an epic miscalculation that took four years of epic death and destruction to resolve, and that was until we dropped our nuclear bombs on Japan. Now, every big power aggressor has the ability to do the same to us.  

Keeping democracy is more valuable than voting for tax advantages

Memo to my well-heeled friends: Let me say something about priorities and values. Keeping democracy is more valuable than voting for tax advantages. I am not poor. I will leave my children some inheritance. What I want is to leave them a democracy of the kind I grew up with so they can enjoy the same freedom I have had to chart my own life. That is the most valuable inheritance my generation can leave them. I am old enough to have seen what fascism caused, and I have had personal day-to-day experiences with a dictatorship. Trump and those who only care about the power and wealth they have if they get back in power would, yes, destroy the kind of democracy I have enjoyed to regain power. I wish on no one a wannabe dictator beholden to the white Christian nationalist agenda and methods of subversion of the administration of laws and their intent to give the autocrat and his loyalists an advantage. I am White and Christian, and so are my children and grandchildren. Their future shaped by demographics will be in a multicultural, multi-racial society where the best way to maintain domestic peace, stability, and prosperity is with a democracy that includes all, is fair to all, and does not attempt to give priority to an extreme religious group and a 1950's Jim Crow racial suppression as outlined in Project 2025. Trump's attempt to distance himself from such forces as the Heritage Foundation represents has no credibility since he is so transactional. He will cut any deal that enhances his power and keeps him there, as his flip-flop on Florida's abortion ban so recently graphically illustrated. Economies never thrive in those kinds of governance when the country is mired in hateful, revengeful, and tribal conflict, where only those craving power get there and stay there when they meet the ideological litmus test of the ruler instead of the excellence of their abilities. Four years again of Trump and new political circumstances that differ from his first term will only bring such turmoil, instability, and uncertainty that chaos is too kind of a word to describe the damage he will do.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-hannity-dictator-authoritarian-presidential-election-f27e7e9d7c13fabbe3ae7dd7f1235c72

Trump wants to make us 1930 again while Biden points with pride at the present and Harris represents the future

 Trump's slogan should be revised to MAKE AMERICA 1930 AGAIN.   Trump opines that America is a failure, a stupid country, ignoring that America leads the world under Biden/Harris in economic recovery from COVID-19 and has formulated the strongest alliances since the end of World War II.  Instead, Trump sought a country that would join with Russia and dance to its tune on Ukraine, claiming peace in our time then, just like British PM Chamberlain gave away Czechoslovakia to the Nazis in 1937. Like then, there is a determined aggressor to establish a past greatness opening and publicly stated to establish Russia's boundaries of the old USSR now and to destroy the mutual defense treaties standing in its way. Not only does this mimic the influence of German sympathizers in America, which finally led to US involvement in WWII, but it even parrots the title of the 1930s isolationists, American First. Trump's economic policies also echo the mistakes and policies of the 1930s. In 1930,  tariffs were raised on imports, which kicked the Depression into high gear. Trump's plan to raise tariffs on all imports across the board, as was tried then, per 16 Nobel laureate economists recently, would cause both inflation and recession. Like in the 1930s, right-wingers fought tooth and nail against FDR's New Deal supporting access to health care and social security, while MAGA proposes to cut them both back in the Project 2025 vision. Like in the 1930s, the favored group in governance and policy were racially white, reflecting the faces raised at GOP conventions and Trump rallies. To preserve the JIM Crow era of the 1930s, Trump and his Project 2025 want to stamp out diversity and equity, DEI. in government, and his party schemes how to suppress minority voters' access to the ballot. If he loses the elections, Trump's advocacy of political violence will put January 6 on steroids. Like in the 1930s, women are to be relegated to subservient status. control over their own health decisions, or even birth control in the provisions of Project 2025. Taking this a step further is Trump's VP pick of, JD Vance, who says even abused women should stay in their marriage and take the beatings while eliminating no-fault divorce, just as it was in 1930.

Trump trash talks to convince voters that they should abandon democracy for his autocracy. Biden's reason for passing the torch to Kamala is to preserve the democracy we have had for 250 years, realizing his age was standing in the way of why he ran for president in the first place: to stop Trump. Trump's case: Only he can fix stupid and failing America. This contrasts with what Biden has accomplished in three and a half years.

There is unfinished business, but even despite Trump sabotaging a very conservative bi-partisan immigration reform bill, Biden has managed to reduce illegal migrant crossings to the same level they were when Trump left office.  

 Trump and their supporters are speaking the Kremlin line in contrast with Biden, who is building up alliances from NATO to Asia.  Biden's alliances have boxed in aggressive, expansionist countries like China and Russia. In the 1930's it was the rise of Nazi Germany and we know how that turned out. America Firsters opened appeasing doors to Germany then, and, unable to distinguish friends from enemies, they are at it once again in the face of a Russian land grab. That was as stupid in the 1930's as it is now. Even most of NATO is rearming, adding Sweden and Finland, and increasing defense budgets. Germany, which virtually has no standing army, is now rebuilding its military from the ground up.

 In the aftermath of the pandemic, America is leading the world in economic recovery by every measure, and the trend lines are still improving. We have the highest GDP growth, and inflation is down to manageable levels, as the unemployment level is the best in 50 years, and wages rise, too, for those employed. The predicted post-COVID recession never happened.  https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/the-us-economy-in-global-context

Something is happening to the US economy only seen once before | Daily Mail Online

In the meantime, Trump's convention and stump speeches devolve into Drill Baby Drill (just if oil produces contribute a billion to his campaign.  as gas prices at the pump return to near Trumpian levels) and fears of being electrocuted by electric boats encircled by sharks and windmills killing birds.  Stupid America, stupid DEI, and stupid Kamala are not just dog whistles to racists and sexist misogynists but full-blown trumpets.

Kamala Harris' goals were outlined in recent addresses and will certainly be refined in the coming days,  https://captimes.com/news/elections/kamala-harris-outlines-2025-goals-from-family-leave-to-child-care/article_948a6314-4925-11ef-a44d-23eae6c6cd80.html

  From my June 14 posting:

Trump trashes America; Biden builds it back better.nd convicted of sedition "patriots'; Biden builds our respect better of our fallen warriors at Normandy. He builds up real patriots as role models of patriotism and knows the difference.  https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/09/03/report-trump-disparaged-us-war-dead-as-losers-suckers/

Trump trashes democracy; Biden builds it better by protecting voters' rights and access

Trump trashes justice that does not support him; Biden builds it better with support of justice for all

Trump trashes justice rulings against him; Biden builds better trust in justice even when it rules against his son.

Trump trashes the truth, evidence, and data; Biden builds it better with a policy  based on evidence and data

Trump trashes affordable health care; Biden built it cheaper and better

Trump trashes the military and alliances and appeases foreign dictators; Buiden builds and leads alliances better to protect us from foreign dictators

Trump trashes bipartisanship; Biden builds infrastructure with it.

Trump trashes the rule of law and wants it to be the rule of  by and for Trump; Biden builds it better, supports the rule of by and for the people

Trump trashes the rights of women to control their health care; Biden builds women's control of health choices better by restoring  rights they had in Roe v Wade

 From my readers responding on Facebook sites with their own Trump trashes/Biden builds:

.Trump trashes public health by keeping lead in pipes that carry drinking water; Biden builds public health by funding the massive replacement of lead pipes and drinking water cleanup with his Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Trump trashes public lands and rants that he'd allow dumping nuclear waste in rivers; Biden builds public protection by working to restore and protect our Clean Water Act.

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Who is the stupid one, looking at where Biden has taken us>